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THE
American Anthropologist.
FUBUSHBD UNDBR THB AUSFIOBS OF THB
ANTHfiOPOLOGICIlL SOCIETY OF WIISHIIIGtON.
VOLUME III.
WASHINGTON, D. C:
JUDD & DETWEILER, PRINTERS.
1890.
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7CNTHR0P0T.OGY LTBRASti*
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CONTENTS OF THE VOLUME.
Paok.
1. A Quarry Workshop of the Flaked-Stone Implement Makers in the
District of Columbia. By W. H. Holmes — i
2. Anthropology in Paris during the Exposition of 1889. By 0ns T.
Mason 27
3. Notes on Counting and Measuring among the Eskimo of Point Barrow.
By John Murdoch 37
4. A New Linguistic Family in California. By H. W. Hbnshaw 45
5. The Thunder-Bird Amount the Algonkins. By A. F. Chamberlain. 51
6. Vesper Hours of the Stone Age. By John G. Bourke 55
7. The Fight with the Giant Witch. By Garrick Mallery 65
8. Omaha Clothing and Personal Ornaments. By J. Owen Dorsey 71
9. The Cherokee Ball Play. By James Mooney Jos'*
10. Remarks on Ojibwa Ball Play. By W. J. Hoffman 133
11. On the Evolution of Ornament — ^An American Lesson. By W. H.
Holmes 137
12. Climatic Influences in Primitive Architecture. By Barr Ferree 147
13. The Olecranon Perforation. By D. S. Lamb .: 159
14. Customs of Courtesy. By Garrick Mallery 201
15. A West Virginia Rock-Shelter. By W. H. Holmes... 217
16. A Zufli Foot-Race. By F. Webb Hodge 227
17. The History of the «' Throwing-Stick " which drifted from Alaska to
Greenland. By John Murdoch . 233
18. Notes on Indian Child-Language. By A. F. Chamberlain -.. 237
19. Mythology of the Menomoni Indians. By W. J. Hoffman 243
20. Notes on the Cosumnes Tribes of California. By James Mooney 259
21. Indian Personal Names. By J. Owen Dorsey 263
22. Stone Monuments in Northwestern Iowa and Southwestern Minnesota.
ByT. H. Lewis 269
23. The Ascent of Man. By Frank Baker — _ 297
24. Excavations in an Ancient Soapstone Quarry in the District of Colum-
bia. By W. H. Holmes 321
iii
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%
IV CONTENTS.
Paoi.
25. Writing Materials and Books Among the Ancient Romans. By A. P.
Montague 331
26. Indian Origin oT Maple Sugar. By H. W. Henshaw... 341
27. On the Nishinam Game of " Ha" and the Boston Game of " Props."
By R. E. C. Stearns - > 353
28. Aboriginal Fire-Making. By Walter Hough 359 /
' MISCELLANEA.
The Potomac valley as an archaeologic field, 26 ; — The ethnologic affinities of
the ancient Etruscans, 36 ; — The aboriginal bark-peeler, 43 ; — A very ancient
tomahawk, 44 ; — Omaha religious practices, 50 ; — Eskimo or Indian ? 50 ; — The
Tonocotes of South America, 63 ; — Arrow-head making, 64;— Rig Veda Amer-
icana, 70; — Bibliography of anthropologic literature, 79; — Book notices, 88; —
The descendants of palaeolithic man in America, 100; — Mound exploration in
Georgia, 102; — Os Incae, 104; — The Powhatan Indians, 132; — Notes on the
names of the heavenly bodies and the poyits of the compass among the Poi nt
Barrow Eskimo, 136; — Brasilian Indians, 158; — Polynesian language, 174; —
Bibliography of anthropologic literature, 175; — Book notices, 184; — Prehistoric
man in America, 198 j^ Archaeologic discovery in IdahOt 200; — Danish inves-
tigations in GreenlaL i876-*88, 216; — Recent work in the quarry workshops
of the District of «mbia, 224 ; — Ethnology of West Africa, 225 ; — L* Anthro-
pologic, 231 ; — Dt I Hans Hendrik, 232 ; — The Andamans and Andamanese,
23$; — Publications relating to Paris Exposition, 241 ;— The *«whizzing-stick "
or " bull-roarer '* on the west coast of Africa, 258 ; — The Greenlanders, 262 ; —
Mutilation of the teeth among the Wanyamurzi, 274 ; — Bibliography of anthro-
pologic literature, 275 ; — Book notices, 283 ; — Iroquoian mythologic notes, 290 ;
— A collection of stone implements from the District of Columbia, 291 ; — Drum-
telegraph of the Cameroon natives, 292; — A modification of Broca's stereograph,
292 ; — Primitive games, 293 ; — Sacred stone enclosure of the Fijians, 294 ; —
Elephant mound, 294 ; — Extern New Guinea, 295 ; — Language of the Mosetena
Indians of Bolivia, 295 ; — West African music, 295 ; — The Wanyamurzi, 296 ; —
The American Indians, 296; — Maya manuscripts, 296; — "Gens" and "sub.
gens," as ei^ressed in four Siouan languages, 320 ;— The inhabitants of Bismarck
archipelago, 340 ; — ^Jiviya Starin&, 351; — A fetish-town in Togoland, 352; —
Secret societies among the coast Indians of British Columbia and Alaska, 352 ; —
Native races of the Philippine islands, 358 ; — Cannibalism in New Ireland, 37 1 ;
. — Customs and beliefs of the tribes of South Africa, 372; — Bushman art,
372 ; — " Exogamy " in New Britain, 372 ; — Bibliography of anthropologic litera-
ture, 373; — Book notices, 380; — American Association for the Advancement of
Science, 385 ; — Oriental customs of courtesy, 387; — Iroquois superstitions, 388.
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THE
American Anthropologist.
Vol. III. WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY, 1890. No. i.
AQUARRT WORKSHOP OF THE FLAKED-8TONB IMPLE-
MENT MAKERS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.*
BY W. H. HOLMES.
In this paper I desire to present a brief account of recent archae-
ological investigations in the* suburbs of the city of Washington.
The work is yet incomplete, but as winter has put an end to oper-
ations in the field it is deemed best that the results thus far ob-
tained should be brought to the attention of archaeologists.
Heretofore I have taken little part in the d* ':ussion of questions
pertaining to local archaeology, as the evidence. T^esen ted did not
seem to be conclusive in any direction. The ^ent exploration
has been undertaken, therefore, without preconceived notions of
what the results should be, and the conclusions are based almost en-
tirely upon facts and arguments pertaining to and derived from my
own investigation. Some conclusions of importance have been defi-
nitely reached and numerous questions have been answered. Some
of the results were unexpected and some may at first seem a little
startling, but I am happy to say that every tendency has been toward
the simplification of what was in many respects a most perplexing
problem.
THE RELICS. •
From time to time during the past decade the attention of archae-
ologists has been called to a class of rudely worked stones found in
great numbers in the vicinity of this city. They are all shaped ex-
clusively by chipping, and are of forms usually classed as palaeo-
lithic, the best-known variety being the so-called "turtle-back;''
but other forms of less striking character, although more highly
elaborated and interesting, are almost equally numerous.
* Read before the Society Nov. 16, 1889.
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2 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. Ill-
So numerous, indeed, are these objects in certain localities that
they are brought in with every load of gravel from the creek beds,
and the laborer who sits by the way-side breaking bowlders for our
streets each year passes them by thousands beneath his hammer ; and
it is literally true that this city, the capital of a civilized nation,
is paved with the art remains of a race who occupied its site in the
shadowy past, and whose identity until now has been wholly a matter
of conjecture.
PREVIOUS STUDY.
The first discussion of these objects within my memory occurred
at a meeting of the Anthropological Society of Washington in the
winter of 1878. A paper upon the turtle-backs was read by Dr.W.
J. Hoffman, in which their character, manner of occurrence, age,
and relations to the Abbott finds of New Jersey were discussed.
Later Mr. S. V. Proudfit engaged in the collection and study of
these forms, and in 1888 published a short paper relating thereto in
the journal of this society. On his return from a long sojourn in
Europe in 1887 Mr. Thomas Wilson took the subject up afresh, and
has since published short papers upon the general subject of palaeo-
lithic man in America, in which allusion is made to the local finds.
The most direct and thorough treatment of the subject occurred at
a meeting of the Anthropological Society held in the month of April,
1889. In the symposial discussionof the archaeology of the District
of Columbia, three papers, by W J McGee, Thomas Wilson, and
S. V. Proudfit, respectively, bore directly upon these rude objects ;
but up to the present time no one has essayed more than to study
the surface finds, and therefore comparatively little was known of
the true character and history of the chipped implements of the re-
gion.
SURFACE DISTRIBUTION OF RELICS.
The objects in question are somewhat sparingly scattered over the
surface of the country, and ate found to some extent upon ancient
village sites along the Potomac and its tributaries ; but the main de-
posits, as shown by recent discoveries, occur along the steep faces
of the great terraces that surround the city. To these spots the an-
cient inhabitants resorted to collect the cobble-stones there<JUtcrop-
ping and to chip them into desired shapes, and it is to these sites —
the ancient workshops — that we must look for light to illumine some
of the obscure features of archaeologic science.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 3
BEGINNING OF THE WORK.
In July, 1889, at the instance of the Director of the Geological
Survey, I resigned my pkce in that organization to accept a place
as archaeologist, under the same direction, in the Bureau of Ethnol-
ogy. It was intended that in the near future I should begin archae-
ological investigations along the Atlantic coast, and I resolved to
commence work at home — literally at home — for the nearest site in
which these rude implements are found, and one of the most prom-
ising sites for archaeologic research in the United States, was only
one and a quarter miles from my own doorstep in this city.
But, aside from the convenience of the locality, there were other
good reasons for beginning the work here. The relics found have
a direct bearing upon questions of the early occupation of this coun-
try — an occupation believed by many to have preceded that of the
Indian. These questions are of the utmost importance and de-
mand the fullest and closest attention, since their study necessarily
precedes and introduces the disc?ussion of the general archaeology of
the Atlantic slope ; but, further, these deposits of artificial refuse
being of great extent and of unknown depth, the undertaking, to be
carried out systematically and thoroughly, involved very considerable
expense and seemed beyond the reach of private means.
The site chosen is representative of a class, and will serve in a
measure as a key to all. Other localities may present different phe-
nomena and possibly conflicting testimony, and their examination
may lead to changes in some of the conclusions drawn from the
study of this example; but the lessons here taught are for the most
part complete in themselves, and the work as a whole will constitute
a nucleus of well-ascertained fact, about which other units of like
character will gradually accumulate. The work derives its chief im-
portance from the fact that it is the first exploration in this section
of a well-identified quarry workshop of the ancient flaked -stone tool-
makers.
LOCALITY.
In passing out of the city by way of Fourteenth street extended, a
picturesquely located bridge is crossed at a point one and a third
miles from Boundary street. The little stream spanned by this
bridge is known as Piny Branch and falls into Rock creek at a little
more than half a mile below the bridge.
Arrived at the bridge, we are already within the limits of the im-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
4 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
plement-bearing area, and the rude objects may be picked up on all
sides — in the lanes that lead up through the forest-skirted farm of
Mr. Blagden, in the beds of all the streams, and upon all the slopes
north and south of the creek, including an area three-fourths of a
mile square.
In this investigation we are particularly concerned in a portion of
the area on the north side of the creek and just west of the Four-
teenth-street road. Here the faces of the plateau rise to loo feet
above the creek bed and 200 feet above tide-water. The slopes are
precipitous, but generally even and regular, and are covered with
forest, much of which is primeval. A number of small rivulets de-
scend from the plateau through deep ravines into the creek. One
of these, coming down from the north, is seen by the road-side at
the left, and another, quite obscured from any ordinary point of
view by the forest, occurs one-fourth of a mile to the west. Be-
tween these two ravines is a promontory or spur of the plateau with a
nearly level top 100 yards in width, the steep slopes of which de-
scend to the rivulets on the east and west and to the creek on the
south.
Upon these steep slopes the primitive peoples found the material
used in implement making, and here they worked, until a mass of
refuse of astonishing magnitude had accumulated. This is now
found not only upon the slopes, but in the masses of gravel at the
base of the slopes and in the flood planes of the valley, even down
to Rock creek and for an unknown distance along its course.
DISCOVERY OF SHOP SITES.
Mr. S. V. Proudfit has in past years explored this locality with
considerable care, and in the Anthropologist of July, 1889, he de-
scribes the distribution and character of the relics with accuracy
and in some detail.
So far as known, the first discovery of worked stones upon the site
of my excavations was made by Mr. De Lancey Gill, who was en-
gaged in sketching upon the bank of the Branch, and by chance ob-
served an implement in the gravel at his feet. Subsequently he
came upon a number of heaps of shop refuse in the western ravine
at the point now cut by my section.
In September, 1889, I visited Mr. Blagden, owner of the prop-
erty, to obtain permission to work upon the premises, and learned
from him that about the year 1878 a street contractor had been
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 5
pennitted to collect material for paving from these grounds, and
that the piles of refuse found by us were gathered together at that
time, a portion only of the heaps collected having been carted away.
At that time a narrow roadway was cut leading from the creek up
the little* ravine to the site of our recent labors. Mr. Blagden subse-
quently informed me that when yet a boy, some twenty-five years ago,
he had observed the great quantities of bowlders at this point, and, de-
siring to know something of the reasons for their accumulation, had
secured help to dig a trench, which was abandoned, however, before
the bed of bowlder refuse was penetrated. I have no doubt that the
evidences of former excavation discovered at the fiftieth foot of my
section, and which caused me no little perplexity at the time, is thus
fully explained.
SURFACE INDICATIONS OF QUARRY SITES.
In beginning the examination of this site my first step was to ob-
serve carefully its topographic features, with especial reference to
such eccentricities of contour as might be due to the agency of
man.
Extensive working over of debris, especially if associated with
quarrying, would leave inequalities of surface which, if not after-
wards obliterated or greatly reduced by natural forces, would be
easily recognized as artificial. Such inequalities were readily found,
and so well defined are they that even the casual observer could not
fail to detect them. It was partly on account of peculiarities of pro-
file that excavations were undertaken at the spot selected, and the
results have shown that these surface indications were not deceptive.
The higher up the gulch we go the more pronounced are the ele-
vations and depressions resulting from the ancient work. Either
the disturbances here are more recent than below or the leveling
agencies of nature have been less active.
THE EXCAVATION.
I shall not attempt in this place to give a detailed account of the
geologic formations of the region, nor shall I refer to the methods
of exploration and the interesting but tedious details of excavation.
A brief review of those members of the geologic section most inti-
mately associated with the work of man will be sufficient for pres-
ent purposes, and the diagram here presented, Plate I, will assist in
making all my statements clear. The three formations involved are.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
6 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
first, the mica schists, A, which underhe the whole region and form
the bed-rock of the Piny Branch bluff up to within perhaps forty
feet of the summit. Second, the sedimentary gravels, sands, clays,
and bowlder beds, B, lying horizontally upon the schists and form-
ing the bed-rock of the upper forty feet of the slopes. These be-
long to the Potomac formation of Mr. McGee and are of Mesozoic
age. Third, the over-placed cloak of soil and gravel, C, derived
from the above fundamental formations and completely covering
them. It is with these latter beds that the student of human history
is chiefly concerned. At the point cut by the section. these gravels
are separable into three important but not always clearly definable
groups, which may be designated as follows : ist, the pre-artificial,
O; 2d, the artificial and inter-artificial, C; 3d, the post-arti-
ficial, C».
The pre-artificial gravels, C^ consist of detritus derived from the
outcropping edges of the underlying formations and spread over the
surface before this site was occupied. These are therefore fi-ee from
artificial remains.
The artificial deposits, C, consist of beds and masses of debris ob-
tained from surface gravels and from the Potomac beds beneath by
men quarrying for bowlders, the raw material used in the manufact-
lure of stone implements. These masses of refuse, worked over
and rearranged by the hand of man, alternate in a rude way with ■
layers of material that appear to have been redistributed to a cer-
tain extent by natural forces during intervals separating seasons or
periods of human activity.
The post-artificial deposits, C, consist of surface detritus rearranged
by natural forces anterior to the period of human occupation, and
consist of gravel, loam, shop refuse, and vegetable mold. They form
but a thin sheet, save in the flood plain of the rivule't, where they
have accumulated in places to eight or ten feet in thickness. They
contain numerous relics from the workshops throughout the large
area examined, and upon the middle part of the slope cut by my
section the relics and shop refuse are amazingly prevalent, forming,
perhaps, one-fourth of the entire mass.
Now at the point cut by this section small portions only of the
pre-artificial-slope gravels remain in their normal condition. The
principal parts remaining are near the lower and upper ends of the
cutting, where the ancient workman left them undisturbed. Other
small portions probably remain upon the uneven edges of the schists
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Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 7
and upon the mesozoic beds at points where the cobble-diggers did
not wholly penetrate them. We have no means of determining with
precision the original thickness of this deposit at points where arti-
ficial disturbance has taken place. The condition of the remnants
above and below indicate that the surface, when man first appeardl
to gather cobbles, was not greatly different from that of the present
day. Additional reasons for this conclusion may be given : First,
there can have been little reduction of the mass of the hill, because
the artificial formations remain upon the slope, and that so com-
pletely that evidences of heaping up and excavation are not wholly
obliterated ; and, second, there is no possible way of elevating the
profile by natural means, since there is but a meager mass of mate-
rial above to draw from ; besides, if filling had occurred, the artifi-
cial profile would have been obliterated as surely as by degradation.
Adopting the assumption, therefore, that the profile of the hill and
the general relations of the principal members. A, B, C, of the sec-
tion were the same when man first appeared as they are now, let
us briefly note the work accomplished by his hands : Throughout
all the unnumbered years that have elapsed since this little valley
was definitely outlined, the formations of the upper slopes, in-
cluding the bowlder beds, have been disintegrating and sliding or
rolling down toward the rivulet. My examination has shown that
the bowlders lodged in numbers at all levels, and thus became im-
bedded in the slope gravek ; but it is probable that the bowlders
were more numerous than elsewhere below and near the immediate
base of the outcrop from which they were derived — that is to say,
about midway in the slope. Howsoever this may be, it now appears
that the bowlder-hunter has worked over this part of the slope, and
that millions of worked stones and unshaped fragments now occupy
the site.
In cutting the section from below, the first positive evidence of an-
cient excavation was encountered at about the twenty-fifth foot, and
from this to the fortieth foot this work had reached five feet in depth
beneath the present surface. At the fiftieth foot it had reached five
and one-half feet, and at the sixtieth foot it was six feet deep and
had penetrated the gravefe and the Potomac beds beneath to within
one foot of the underlying mica schist. At the seventieth foot the
overlying formations had been entirely penetrated, and the ancient
workman stood upon the mica schist, nine feet below the surface,
and there shaped his rude stone tools. At the seventy-ninth foot
Digitized by VjOOQIC
8 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
we encountered the face of the Potomac bowlder bed, an uneven
wall some ten feet in height, composed of ovoid quartzite bowlders,
many of which are wonderfully adapted to the hand of the stone-age
tool-maker. They are firmly imbedded in a matrix of argillaceous
sand. Here was the quarry face of the ancient miner. Facing a
wall like this, he was in a position to supply the whole ancient world
with the raw material for one of its most important arts.
Now the analysis of the phenomena here encountered has been
made with the utmost care, and I have called upon our foremost
scientists to witness every feature of interest.* First in importance
are the evidences of deep quarrying.. In the vertical walls of our
excavation the sloping sides of the ancient pits are clearly defined
by layers of differently colored earths, and the beds and masses of
refuse from the workman's hands are not changed in their relations
and hardly changed in their appearance since the day they were de-
posited. Masses of shop refuse were encountered at every step of the
excavation and had the appearance of pockets, as shown in the sec-
tion, Plate II, which represents the front wall of the trench at the
seventy-fifth foot.
The lower pocket of refuse shown in this section was eight feet be-
low the surface and rested almost upon the surface of the schists. It
had been thrown against one side of the pit-bottom, and was upward
of two feet in depth. It consisted of bowlders, whole and broken,
and fragments in all stages of manufacture, including numerous well-
shaped forms and many chips.
A remarkable feature of this pocket of shop refuse was the openness
of its interspaces. Animals as large as rats could have entered the
openings and meandered the subterranean passages with ease. This
feature is well shown in Plate III. Upon this loose heap of debris
irregular layers of earth and and gravel containing a few bowlders'
were superimposed, and upon these again another bed of artificial
refuse, of great extent and thickness, had been thrown. The posi-
tion and nature of this bed is shown in the middle part of the sec-
tion. Here both rude and well-shaped relics of art were' very
numerous, and flakes and fragments were innumerable. The walls
of the pit in which they accumulated are oiearly defined to a height
of six feet.
* Mr. W J McGee took exceptional interest in the work and his advice and
assistance have been of the greatest service. It is gratifying to be assured of his
concurrence in my conclusions regarding the quarries and quarry products.
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Plate II.— Front wall of excavation at 77lh foot,
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Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 9
./
Over this and extending to the surface are two or three feet of
heterogenous deposits, consisting of coarse and fine gravels well
stocked with all forms of artificial refuse. The upper part of these
beds belongs to what I have called the post-artificial deposits as ap-
parently they have been rearranged by natural means. The line
separating the distinctly artificial from the rearranged or natural is
too indefinite to be fully made out. It is generally not far from the
bottom of the vegetable mold, which varies from two to fifteen inches
in thickness, save where pits existed at the time of abandonment,
where it is necessarily deeper.
The magnitude of the work accomplished by the ancient miners
will be realized when it is stated that my trench crossed a belt of
worked material fifty-five feet wide and, on an average, upwards of
six feet deep, and that this belt extends horizontally along the bluff
for an unknown distance. Judging by surface indications, it may
extend half a mile or more.
The work of excavation does not seem to have begun at the lower
edge of the worked belt next the stream and to have been carried
up the slope and against the face of the bowlder outcrop, but to have
been carried along the slope from right to left, the gravel having
been worked backward and downward as the pits advanced, filling
up, to a great extent, the earlier excavations.
V As to the ancient methods of excavating the pits and moving the
material we have learned but little. No remnants or trace of tools
have been found. Wooden utensils, such as a primitive people might
devise, would have served to loosen the bowlders and remove the
earth and refuse. Stone tools would hardly have been employed, as
it would be folly to jeopardize finished stone implements in the
rough work of quarrying and fracturing bowlders.
The conditions seen at this point and recorded in the sections are
representative of the whole site, so far as examined, and I need not
here go into greater detail.
ART PRODUCTS.
We pass naturally from a study of the general features and phe-
nomena of the factory site to an examination of the articles manu-
factured — to a consideration of the origin, development, and destiny
of the stone implements produced. I wish here to call especial at-
tention to the fact that perhaps never before has such an opportunity
to study these latter points been presented to an American archae-
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10 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
ologist. Heretofore we have been called upon to lament both the
raeagemess of our material and the incomplete character of the evi-
dence concerning it. In the present case there is an abundance of
material and a completeness and clearness of evidence that leaves '
nothing to be desired.
From a trench three feet wide and fifty feet long cut through the
artificial deposits of this slope I have obtained nearly two thousand
worked stones, all exhibiting design, and have examined a thousand
cubic feet of material, all or nearly all of which had been worked
over by the ancient- quarryman, and fully one-tenth of which con-
sisted of artificial fragments.
If other parts of this promontory face are as well supplied with
artificial products as this one — ^and the indications are that such is
the case — ^we can safely estimate that the site contains over a million
finished, unfinished, and broken implements.
Of almost equal importance is the fact that this is an undisturbed
quarry workshop which contains in one form or another multitudes of
examples of each and every form made, as well as all the tools used
in the making, and as it is not on a village site, and probably far
from one, it is wholly free firom domestic refuse and from all other
exotic products.
The unexampled simplicity of the conditions is further empha-
sized by the fact that but one material — and that in one form — was
used, and still more, that but one kind of machinery and one pro-
cess were employed in all this great factory ; and, furthermore, I
may add, in advance of proofs which are forthcoming, there was
but one period of work, and that by one race, whose clever artists
had in mind, so far as this shop was concerned, but one ideal. The
value and importance of this simplicity of condition will become
more and more apparent as we advance in the investigation.
The material quarried and used was quartzite, a flinty sandstone.
It was in the form of small ovoid bowlders worn down by the action
of water. These bowlders were worked into desired shapes by the
artist, and the tools he had to work with were also bowlders identi-
cal in every way with those worked ; and of prime importance in
this discussion is the additional fact that the process employed was
exclusively fracture by free-hand percussion, the act being a quick,
firm stroke, regulated in force by the nature of the resistance to be
overcome and by the result desired. I have found absolutely no trace
of other kind of procedure. /^
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Plate IIK— Portion of froiil vfa]] o( c!tcav;ilion ul tbe 44fh foot. Upper tine o£ picture 2] tct-J
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 11
The bold but unsymmetric outline of the tool, the haphazard ar-
rangement of the strokes, and the width and irregularity of the flakes
unite to preclude the idea that any process capable of adjusting the
point of contact between the tool used and the article shaped could
have been employed.
The first step in the classification and study of these implements,
finished and unfinished, is to separate them carefully from the refuse.
The line must be drawn, not between specimens showing evidences
of work and those showing no evidence of work — for if this were
done we would have to discuss a hundred tons of material — but be-
tween relics that bear evidence of design and those which do not.
^^Many broken stones and flaked fragments and all chips show indis-
putable evidence of work, but their shape is not the result of de-
sign. A case in point is the stone from which flakes have been taken
to be themselves shaped into tools. Such a stone, usually called a
core, has a faceted appearaiice, suggesting design, but in itself it is
^ot the result of design. Again, a flake or fragment broken from a
tool already worked over will retain upon its outer surface a number
of the facets of that tool, and thus to the careless observer it bears
the appearance of having been itself subjected to the shaping pro-
cess.
With these distinctions in mind, the archaeologist has but little
trouble in recognizing and separating all classes of products, and
the uninitiated with a little careful study may readily learn to do the
same.
Having handled the products of this shop constantly for a period
of several weeks, I have familiarized myself with every variety of form
and shade of contour, and do not feel the least hesitation in pre-
senting the results of my selection and classification.
In Plate IV is presented a series of worked stones taken from this
site, which represents every variety of product and epitomizes the
entire range of form. Beginning with the bowlder a, from which
two chips have been taken, we pass through successive degrees of
elaboration, reaching final forms in k, /, m, long leaf-shaped blades.
Profiles of the type specimens are placed at the right. These illus-
trations are one-half actual size and are far from satisfactory, as it is
extremely difficult to secure good photographs of objects whose pre-
vailing colors are greenish and browijish grays.
If it be asked how I know that this series is complete, I answer
that quartzite, the material used, although so firm and indestructible,
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12 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
is at the same time brittle. It is impossible to shape from it flaked
tools, howsoever simple, and succeed in every case. Some — ^I may
safely say many — are necessarily broken, and the discarded rem-
nants tell the story. A careful study of every shade of form shows
that more are broken than remain in the workshop entire, and I
may add that had every entire flaked tool been taken from the spot
the record would remain, and with a certainty that is absolute.
Referring again to this series, we see that the process of manufact-
lure and the steps of development are essentially as follows :
Grasping a bowlder in either hand, the first step was to strike the
edge of one against that of the other at the proper angle to detach
a flake. The second step and the third were the same, and so on
until the circuit was completed. If no false step was made and the
stone had the right fracture, these few strokes, occupying but as
many seconds, gave as a result a typical turtle-back — a bowlder with
one side faceted by artificial flaking — the other side, save through
accident, remaining smooth. If the removal of a single row of
flakes was not satisfactory, the work was continued until the availa-
bility of the stone for further elaboration was properly tested. This
completed the first stage of the manipulation. A type profile is
illustrated in «.
If the results thus far were satisfactory the stone was turned in the
hand, and by a second series of blows the remaining smooth side
was flaked away, and the result was a two-faced stone or double tur-
tle-back. With, perhaps, a few additional strong strokes the rough
stone began to assume the outlines of the final form, and the second
stage was soon completed, a type profile being seen in o. If at this
stage, and I may say if at any preceding stage, the stone devel-
oped defects or unmanageable features — such as too great thickness,
crookedness, or humps that could not be removed — it was thrown
away and thus became part of the refuse ; and it would appear that
all the entire specimens collected belonging to these two stages, since
they were taken by us from the refuse, did develop some of these
failings, and the same may be said of their 500,000 brothers and
sisters. /
If, however, the form developed properly, the work was continued
into what I have called for convenience the third stage. It con-
sisted in going over both sides a second and perhaps a third time,
securing, by the use of small hammers and by deft and careful blows
upon the edges, a rude but symmetrical blade. A profile is given
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Digitized by VjOOQ IC
Notes on Plate IV.
In this plate is presented a series of forms epitomizing the quarry
workshop rejects and indicative of successive steps in the manufacture
of implements. The scale is about one-half nature. Flakes and
other fragments not exhibiting design are excluded.
. a. Bowlder with two flakes removed ; probably, rejected because
of coarse grain and difficult fracture. This bowlder, which is four
and one-half inches long, three and one-half inches wide, and nearly
two inches thick, is of typical shape and of nearly average size. The
largest worked specimens are about one foot in length and the
smallest not above an inch. Such extremes are rare.
by c, //. Specimens worked on one side only and probably re-
jected on account of perverse fracture or excessive thickness. A
profile is shown in n,
e, A few flakes removed from the back ; fracture perverse.
/, g. Carefully worked on both sides, but still excessively thick,
hence the rejection.
h. Broken by a stroke intended to remove a prominent hump.
Profile shown in o.
/. Neat in shape but with a high ridge or hump on the back
which many strokes have failed to remove. This piece could as
well be classed with the second group as there is no very definite
line between it and the third group.
y. Unsym metric broken blade.
k, /, m. Thin, neat, broken blades. These must have been very
near completion, so far as free hand percussion was concerned, as
they are neatly flaked over the whole surface and are quite attenu- J
ated. That they were unfinished is* indicated by the fact that they ^
were broken while still under treatment. Their thickness is indi- k
cated in/. j
To the first and second stages of manufacture belong many very f
rude, irregular, and broken forms that could not be represented in [
this series. i
The last specimen of the series, yw, is perhaps the most advanced t
form found, but that is was not finished is clear not only from the fact •
that is was broken by a strong blow while still under treatment but
from the unfinished character of the point and iX)rtions of the edge.
It is highly improbable that we have in the whole series of pro-
ducts of the quarry, here epitomized, any finished tool, either whole
or represented by firagments. This should not be regarded as an
opinion merely ; it is a conclusion based upon evidence that cannot
be lightly treated by the scientific investigator.
%
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Digitized by VjOOQ IC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 13
in /. If, even at this stage of advancement, it was vitally defective, it
was either broken in the attempt to correct the defect or was thrown
into the heap as useless.
Four broken specimens that approach very closely the quarry-
shop ideal are shown in/, k, /, and m. No good example of this class
was found entire, and illustrations had to be selected from the broken
specimens, both halves of which happened to be recovered, or from
single halves. In nearly all cases such specimens have a broad end
and a pointed one, and these features were generally foreshadowed
in the first stages of manufacture, and were kept in view throughout
the progress of the work. These blades vary from two to five inches
in length, and are generally under two inches in width and less than
one-half an inch in thickness. It was requisite that they should be
straight and symmetrical, and that the edges should have a bevel as
slight as consistent with needful strength. Only one piece was found
that had been carried beyond this stage, a rude stem having been
worked out at the broad end. This specimen was found near the
surface. Two other pieces, found at considerable depths, exhibit
slight indications of specialization of form, which, however, might
have been accidental.
And now, having followed the process to the end, I wish to call
especial attention to the fact, if my view be correct, that when this
thin blade was realized the work of this shop and the only work of
this shop, so far as shaping is concerned, was ended. The process
and the machinery had accomplished all that was asked of them and
all that they were capable of accomplishing. The neat, but withal
rude, blades, and they only, were carried away, and that to destinies
that we may yet reveal. Further work, additional shaping, if such
there was, employed other processes and was carried on in other
fields.
The course of procedure just described I have investigated in the
most careful manner, and by experiment have followed every step
of the process, and have achieved almost every result. I have found
that in reaching one final form I have left many failures by the way,
and that these failures duplicate, and in proper proportions, all the
forms found upon the site.
I further find by these experiments, and the fact is a most impor-
tant one, that every implement resembling the final f6rm here de-
scribed made from a bowlder or similar bit of rock must pass through
the same or much the same stages of development, whether shaped
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14 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
to-day, yesterday, or a million years ago ; whether in the hands of
the civilized, the barbarian, or the savage man.
Now with these facts clearly in mind, it seems almost superfluous
to expend additional words in showing that all forms found in the
workshop other than the thin blades accidentally lost are mere waste ;
but in a matter having so important a bearing upon the very founda-
tions of our study of primitive archaeology no point should seem to
be slighted.
It causes me almost a pang of regret at having been forced to the
conclusion that the familiar turtle-back or one-faced stone, the
double turtle-back or two-faced stone, together with all similar rude
shapes, must, so far as this site is concerned, be dropped wholly
and forever from the category of implements.
Our utmost effort cannot wring from them a fact or a suggestion
of value upon any of the great questions of time, race, and culture,
and it follows that what is true of the rude forms of this particular '
locality may be true also of all similar forms found throughout the
Potomac valley.
But why should we regret such a conclusion ? If the simple-minded
savage, who laboriously quarried and shaped these forms, cast them
at once and without hesitation into the refuse literally, there can
be no sound reason why we, as searchers after truth, should hesitate
to do the same thing scientifically.
I have obtained from this one small spot, less than twenty square
yards in area, fully i,ooo turtle-backs of the two forms — a, greater
number than has been collected heretofore in the whole Potomac
province. And why ? There can be but one answer. This spot
is a great workshop where tools were shaped or, rather, roughed out,
and these things are the failures. The soundness of this view is fur-
ther proved by the fact that these forms are not found carefully de-
posited in clusters or caches, but are distributed with considerable
uniformity throughout the mass of refuse from top to bottom and
from end to end.
But there is additional confirmatory evidence. I have prepared
a statement by means of which some important facts will be made
apparent. In this case the great importance of having at hand a large
and exhaustive series of the art products of a veritable workshop
becomes apparent.
As already seen (see Plate IV), I have divided the shaped forms
into three classes, which are separable by well-marked steps or stages
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 15
of manufacture. In the series here presented four are of the first
stage, four are of the second stage, and the remainder of the third
stage. It is not convenient to divide the series differently or more
frequently.
The relative numbers of these three classes found within the trench
are given below. Halves in each case are recorded, as they serve to
point out an important fact.
Of the first stage there are 380 whole specimens and 460 halves.
Of the second stage, 250 whole specimens and 320 halves.
Of the third stage, 12 whole specimens and 380 halves.
It will be noted that of the whole specimens of the third stage
there are but twelve representatives, and I may add that these are
comparatively rude, and with two or three exceptions can as well
be classed with those of the preceding stage. Practically, therefore,
there were no examples of the^'successful quarry products left upon
the ground. All forms available for further shaping or for imme-
diate use, as the case may be, were carried away as being the entire
product of the shop, the only reward for the long-continued and
arduous labor involved in their production.
Now these three stages do not necessarily represent the full scope
of the art of the ancient tool-maker, and in this connection it is
of the greatest importance that we should keep in mind the fact
that this site is only a quarry workshop, which was naturally not a
place for finishing tools, but one for roughing out the material and
selecting that fitted to be carried away for filial finishing. A laborer
engaged in such work in a pit in the forest would not be likely to
throw aside the rough hammer used in fracturing cobbles to take up
and operate an entirely different kind of machinery, involving a dis-
tinct and delicate process. Being a reasoning and practical creature,
he would carry away the roughed-out tools, the long, thin blades,
to be finished at his leisure and by whatsoever method custom had
placed at his disposal.
It may be well just here to define with some care the apparent
limitations of the classes of procedure concerned in the manufacture
of flaked tools.
Direct or free-hand percussion is the natural method of reducing
large amorphous masses to something approximating the special shapes
reached in the advanced stages of the art. It was probably the only
method known in very early times ; but this process, even in the
most skillfiil hands, has its limitations in certain directions. For
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16 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
example, blows cannot be given with sufficient regularity to secure
great symmetry of outline and uniformity of flaking ; and, again,
when implements under treatment become attenuated the sharp blow
is extremely liable to shatter them. The skill of the artificers being
equal, these limitations vary with the degree of brittleness and homo-
geneity of the material used.
In the case of quartzite, free-hand percussion cannot accomplish
more than the merest roughing out, as the material is extremely
fractious ; but it is equally tru6 that by more refined methods as great
or even greater difficulty in shaping this material would be encoun-
tered, and the skill of the workman must have been tried to the ut-
most to carry the manufacture by the first process to a stage where
the other methods would be operative. It is probable that some
method employing indirect percussion may have followed that of di-
rect percussion. ^ By indirect percussion I mean the use of two tools,
one the hammer and the other the punch, the latter being set upon
the exact spot to be fractured, thus eliminating the element of un-
certainty characteristic of the free-hand blow, although at the same
time losing a large part of the percussive power.
By the latter method, if not by the first, the rude quarry blades
could be carried to a degree of symmetry and attenuation that would
enable the artist to employ to advantage a bit of notched bone or a
like device, and thus to carry the tool to the highest possible degree
of specialization and finish.
At any rate, it is clear that the quarry forms bear no evidence what-
ever of that regularity and refinement of flaking and that neatness and
symmetry of form that characterize results by these latter methods.
And now what of the. probable destiny of the quartzite blades
that, as we have seen, were graduated from the school of direct or
free-hand percussion ? Am I correct in the assumption previously
made that they were carried elsewhere to be finished by more gentle
methods of manipulation, or were they already finished and ready
to go into the service of their rude owners?
There is a wide-spread impression that quartzite tools related to
this quarry form are not found upon village sites in this vicinity,
and that they are not generally distributed over the hills and val-
leys ; but I find upon examination that this assumption is entirely
without foundation, and that not only this form, but all others
ranging from it down through the specialized and minute forms, oc-
cur in many places and in great numbers.
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Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 17
But I must add that to a limited extent the rude forms — the tur- .
tie-back and its near relatives — ^are also found widely scattered over
the Potomac valley outside of the shops in the hills. This would
seem to conflict with my former statement that all of these rude
shapes are failures and were left upon the factory sites.
It is time, therefore, that I should define a stone-age workshop.
It is any spot where an individual desiring to make an implement
picks up one or more bowlders or bits of stone and proceeds to shape
what he desires. It is a shop just the same if thousands of rocks
and hundreds of men are concerned. It is a quarry workshop if the
raw material is secured by means of excavation or is broken from
masses of rock before the shaping begins.
Bowlders and bits of workable rock, singly or in numbers, are scat-
tered over the face of the country — on the beach, on the river banks,
in the woods, in the green fields, and on village sites. If rude, unfin-
ished forms are not found on some village sites it is very probably be-
cause material suitable to be worked was not found upon the spot, I
venture to surmise that upon extensive areas of alluvial lajid where the
raw material is very scarce the rude forms of tools will be exceed-
ingly rare, although all post-quarry and final products abound.
In this part of the valley shop sites are very numerous, and wher-
ever they occur will be found relics representing the stages of man-
ufacture — turtle-backs, double turtle-backs, and failures of every
shape and kind, depending for their character upon the species and
form of rock, the skill of the workmen, and the kind of tool de-
signed ; but in any case ordinary percussion was concerned in only
the rougher work, and indirect percussion or pressure was em-
ployed in the final stages. The thick, clumsy forms are in every
case mere refuse. There is so far no evidence that any inhabitant
of the Potomac valley ever aimed to make by flaking alone any other
than the attenuated forms, one-half an inch or less in thickness, such
as we see in knives, scrapers, spear and arrow heads, perforators, and
the like. Very rude forms may occasionally have been used in emer-
gencies, or even may have been shaped for special uses of a local or
temporary kind, such as quarrying soapstone or girdling trees ; but
the quarry forms here found were certainly not made to be used, and
we have additional confirmation of this in the fact that it is excep-
tional to find examples of Ihe class that show evidence of use, or
even that were found in such situations as to indicate that they had
either been used or valued.
3
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18 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
A very large percentage of the chipped-stone forms found in our
museums, and over which endless discussions have taken place, are
only failures gathered from shop sites ; while many others from
shop sites and elsewhere are unfinished implements lost or thrown
away before the final shape was reached. It was impossible to make
these distinctions with accuracy until a veritable fossil shop-site, dis-
sociated from other finds, was discovered and systematically ex-
plored. It may be said with much truth that the archaeologist who
studies flaked stones of any country without having made himself
familiar with the functions and character of such a workshop is liable
to make most serious blunders.
As a corollary of the determination of the true quarry product we
arrive at the definition of a cache. The ordinary cache of stone im-
plements is a cluster or hoard, numbering, perhaps, a score or more,
which has been secreted or deposited in the earth by the owner,
and who for some reason never exhumed it. Such hoards are fre-
quently discovered by workmen in the fields.
Having reached a definite conclusion that the blades were the ex-
clusive worked product of the quarry, I was led to investigate their
subsequent history. The working of a quarry such as I have de-
scribed led inevitably to the production of blades in numbers, and
it follows that they were removed in numbers, since the supply for
the entire year was to be obtained probably within a small fraction
of a year, the working period being determined by the season, by
tribal movements, or by other limitations of time.
In speculating upon the probable nature of the transportation,
storage, and distribution of such quarry forms I happened to ob-
serve that they were identical in character with the objects usually
contained in caches, and the conclusion was at once suggested that
all such cache forms are quarry products — unfinished tools — ^varying
in character with the material, the process, and the habits or needs
of the people concerned ; that they had been roughed out in num-
bers and to a stage of advancement that made them portable and at
the same time placed them fully within the reach of the processes to
be employed in finishing, and that they had been carried away to
the villages and buried in damp earth, that they might not become
hard and brittle before the time came for flaking them into the final
forms required in the arts. The story begun in the quarry is thus
expanded and the status of the cache tentatively determined.
, The history of the quarry forms is not completed, however, until
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 19
we have noted their final distribution among the individuals of the
various tribes, until we have witnessed the final step in the shaping
process — the flaking out of specific forms with a tool of bone — and
their final adaptation to use and dispersal over the country.
And now, hastening over this interesting field, the problem of
age and race, so far as the results of this exploration relate to them,
must be hurriedly examined.
AGE AND RACE.
The question of the antiquity of the period of occupation is one
of paramount interest and importance. When it is fully and finally
answered we shall no longer be uncertain as to whether our researches
refer to a well-known people or to a race shrouded in a thick veil of
mystery.
If the attainable evidence is against great age, or even if it is not de-
cidedly in favor of great age, the natural conclusion is, or ought to
be, that the race concerned is the Indian ; for he is well known to us
as an actual occupant of the region, and the period of his occupancy,
while coming down to our time, and therefore recent, is not at all
well defined in respect to the other limit. If, on the contrary, the
evidence favors great age — if the latest limit of the period of occu-
pation is remote and apparently far antedates the period of which
we have historic knowledge — we shall not perhaps be warranted in
identifying the ancient quarry-worker with the Indian, and ulti-
mately may even find it necessary to refer him to another and earlier
stage of culture.
Unfortunately we have in the Potomac valley but meager and
imperfect indices of age. Geology, the great time gauge, is not
known to have made a definite record since the first glacial epoch,
a period antedating traces of man, and therefore important proofs
of a geologic nature beaxing upon this question do not exist, and
answers to questions concerning remote chronology must be sought
elsewhere. There are some minor records, however, pertaining to
geology which are worthy of careful study.
The art relics from the site examined are, as we have seen, more
or less intimately associated with three formations. Two are old,
antedating the advent of man, and the other is now in process of
accumulation and alteration under conditions that have been prac-
tically the same ever since glaciM times. These associations, there-
fore, of themselves afford no assistance whatever.
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20 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
An examination of the quarry-shop refuse makes it apparent that
the period of occupation was very long. The accumulations of
worked material are of enormous extent and remarkable thickness.
Their general compactness is also a notable feature. At the same
time it can hardly be claimed that these facts aid materially in
settling the question at issue. The same may be said of the growth
of forest trees upon the site. A fine chestnut tree fully a century
old stands upon the surface of a, bed of refuse which is filled with
artificial remains, and that to a depth not even penetrated by the
strongest roots ; but the age of a tree or of many generations of trees
will not carry us back beyond the period of the Indian.
The deposits are deep, but their accumulation may have been
rapid, and the indications are strong that it was rapid. They are
compact in parts, indicating, perhaps, a considerable lapse of time ;
but in other parts they are not at all compacted, and the pockets of
coarse refuse are, as I have already shown, quite open and full of
cavities — a condition not regarded by geologists as consistent with
great age. So far as my excavations extend, there is no indication
of a break in the period of occupation, and the implements are alike
from bottom to top. Again, the evidences of accumulation and
excavation are still apparent upon the surface, and this indicates a
date the remoteness of which is to be reckoned by centuries rather
than by tens of centuries.
That but a single stage of culture is involved and that a single race
was concerned are clearly shown by the uniform character of the
relics and the manner in which they occur. In one case a small
pocket df refuse was encountered at a depth of forty inches, from
which all the tools, flakes, and fragments were preserved. Subse-
quently, when these were washed and examined, they were found to
include one entire typical turtle-back, which had apparently been
thrown aside because of its great thickness ; all the fragments of an^
implement quite well advanced in the second stage, but which had
been broken in attempting to remove a hump, and a blade in the
final stage which had been broken at the very verge of completion.
The chips struck from these objects were in the cluster with them,
and there can be no doubt that all these forms, covering the whole
range of so-called tools from the rudest turtle-back to the final blade,
were made by the same man and on the same day and probably
within a single hour. Unity of time as well as of race are thus
demonstrated.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 21
The question as to the remoteness of the time has already been
reviewed, and the question of the race concerned may now receive
a moment's attention.
It would seem from, what has been said that geologically there is
nothing to carry the history of man in this place back beyond the
age of the Indian, and that a number of things conspire to confine
it to that period.
I find no evidence of a cultural kind that points significantly to-
wards another race. Mining and'quarrying are well-known accom-
plishments of the Indian, and on Rock creek and near at hand are
soapstone quarries that no one would think of attributing to any
other people. The mounds and shell heaps which are known to be
of Indian origin bear equal or greater evidence of antiquity than do
the remains upon this site.
The absence from this site, so far as known, of finished tools of
flaked or polished stone and of pottery has given rise to the assump-
tion that the race concerned did not make or use these things, andj
it is argued from this that they could not have been our Indians ;
but it would seem that there is really little apparent reason why any
people quarrying bowlders and roughing out rude implements in the
hills should carry finished tools into the pits, and there certaijily
would be no excuse whatever for having pottery there. Besides, it
should be remembered that my excavations have been carried over
a very small portion — one-thousandth part, perhaps — of the work-
shops, and that other classes of art remains may yet be found.
The unity of the art of the quarries so far as kown is, as we
have seen, easily and conclusively shown. Is it not also possible to
demonstrate the unity of the flaked-stone art of the whole Potomac
province ? A review of the field makes it clear that if the theory of
the occupancy of this valley by an early man had not been suggested
from without there would have been no occasion for asking such a
question, for every appearance indicates homogeneity not only in
art, but in race as well.
The flaked-stone implements of the region are readily grouped
under a few heads, including knife-blades, scrapers, spear-points,
arrow-points, and perforators. Other forms are known, but. they
are not of importance in the present study and at best were not
standard products of the flaking art, but rather emergency tools
made to answer some temporary or purely local purpose.
Two of the groups, the arrow and spear heads, are perhaps the
Digitized by VjOOQIC
22 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
most numerous and important, as they naturally would be with a
fishing and hunting race. They include wide but closely similar
ranges of form, the two classes varying little save in size, and this
difference may be easily accounted for by differences in the mate-
rial. Quartz is fitted for the manufacture of small forms only on
account of its brittlefiess, lack of homogeneity, and flawed condition,
whereas quartzite is tough, coarse-grained, and fairly homogeneous,
and while well adapted to use for large tools is difficult to shape into
small or delicate ones. Jasper, slate, flint, and other rocks are com-
paratively rare and from necessity occupy a secondary place in our
primitive art. To all appearance the differences in size are reason-
ably accounted for without appealing to distinctions in culture or
race to explain them.
Now, for the purpose of securing another point of view from which
to study the quarries and the quarry products, let us suppose that no
example of the workshops had been discovered, and that the source
of supply of the raw material was wholly unknown. Viewing the
vast number of spear and arrow heads of quartzite found scattered
over the hills and valleys and taking into account the multitude that
still lie buried in humus and alluvium, the question would naturally
arise, where are the sources of the material, and where are the great
quantities of refuse that must have resulted fi'om such extensive
manufacture ?
Nearly all of the quartzite found in this region is in the shape of
bowlders, and we are safe in concluding that in the manufacture of
ten thousand tools — a moderate estimate of the number lost within
this valley — ^hundreds of thousands of failures were made and mill-
ions of flakes and fragments were left upon the ground. It has been
observed that these bowlders are scattered over the surface of the
country, and in many places they have been worked, but they occur
in very limited numbers, and having been seasoned by long ex-
posure they are extremely difficult to reduce to desired shapes.
Through the investigation of Mr. McGee we have learned that the
area affording a plentiful supply of quartzite bowlders of a size suit-
able for use in shaping tools is very limited, and that it is confined
to the bluffs of the Potomac river within and immediately below
the District of Columbia, and it follows from this that the factories
where implements were made and the refuse resulting from the
manufacture must be found within the range of vision from our
house-tops.
pigitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOP. 23
But, as we have seen, the quarries and factories have actually been
found, and it is ascertained that they answer in every way the re-
quirements of the case.
Every quartzite point made from a bowlder had to go through all
the stages of manufacture already carefully described, and with these
quarry workshops in sight it would be absurd to still ask where and
how these implements were made. It is impossible to escape the
conclusion that these quarries were the source of the material, and
that here the implements were roughed out, and the presumption is
very strong that the quartzite art of the valley is a unit, and that
but one people was concerned in the manufacture and use of the im-
plements.
It follows still further, since the quartzite shapes are identical with
those in quartz and other materials, that the chipped-stone art of
this valley is practically a unit, and that nothing short of the dis-
covery of wholly new evidence will make the theory of occupancy
by another race than the Indian tenable.
Notwithstanding the apparent conclusiveness of the evidence of
ethnic and cultural unity, the lessons derived from other regions
should not be disregarded. The interpretations placed upon imple-
ments found elsewhere and corresponding closely to ours are eloquent
of the history of early races and of the evolution of culture.
Many of the rude implements of the Seine — ^assigned to a great an-
tiquity and to an unknown race — ^are nearly identical with our quarry
forms. On the Thames the analogues of nearly all classes of rude
implements are found in the high, level gravels, thus carrying history
back with certainty to remote ages. In the Delaware valley the
rudest forms, corresponding to our failure shapes, are obtained from
glacial gravels, and the less rude varieties occur in more recent forma-
tions or under conditions that seem to make them safe indices of
the steps of progress. In the Potomac valley, on the other hand,
all the rude forms appear to be but failures or unfinished pieces rep-
resenting stages in the manufacture of arrow and spear points of the
Indian.
In view of this apparently anomalous state of affairs it may be held
that as in biology the growth of the individual epitomizes the suc-
cessive stages through which the species passed, so in art the flaked-
stone tool of the highest type advances through stages of manufact-
ure each step of which illustrates a period of human progress in
culture.
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24 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
It should be remembered, however, that the investigations of this
locality are not yet completed, and that in view of this fact it would
be unwise to assume that in all cases final results have been reached.
It is quite possible that our chipped implements are in a measure
separable into chronologic or cultural groups, for the American
Indian did not always occupy one plane. In common with
other divisions of the human family he mu5t have riseii by de-
grees from lower to higher levels of culture. The chipped-stone art,
however, in itself a simple one, may have reached comparative ex-
cellence rapidly and in very early times, and far in advance of more
complex and less practical arts. In any event it is probably not very
sensitive to cultural changes, and may have remained for a long time
practically stationary while the procession of other arts moved stead-
ily on.
It is believed by Mr. McGee that the river gravels formed in the
Potomac valley since the first ice epoch and possibly containing evi-
dences of early man have been depressed .beneath tide water. If such
is the case, we are as helpless here as our confreres at Trenton would
be if the estuary gravels of the Delaware, now yielding such impor-
tant finds, had sunk wholly from sight in pre-Columbian times.
It is within the range of possibility that other classes of evidence
may yet be forthcoming. The discovery of shelters, caves, or vil-
lage sites occupied by distinct peoples or by the same people at
widely separated periods, or of human remains in connection with
•the remains of extinct animals, would throw new and strong light
upon the early history of man in this valley.
As to the present state of the evidence, I hold that there can be
but one opinfon. It is impossible to show that there exists the
slightest trace of any other race than the American Indian as he is
known to us, and I am convinced that if the great Powhatan should
at this late day rise from the dead and claim for his people all the
stone implements of the Potomac valley no reasonable objection
could be made to the claim.
SUMMARY.
And now a few of the salient points brought out in the preceding
pages may be recalled : ,
A quarry workshop of the flaked-stone implement makers has been
identified, examined, and described.
The quarrying is found to have been extensive and the remains are
of surprising magnitude.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A QUARRY WORKSHOIV^ J ^ 25
The manner of quarrying, the material quarried, and the purpose
of quarjying have been studied.
The processes of manufacture have been determined and the arti-
cles manufactured have been described.
It has been shown that percussion was used exclusively, and that
any people chipping ordinary implements from bowlders must neces-
sarily follow the same steps and reach similar results.
It has been shown that a well-marked distinction exists between
quarry work, which is a roughing out by percussion, and the after
shaping and finishing of special forms, which is accomplished chiefly
• by gentle means, such as pressure, and that it is highly improbable
that*the latter work would be fonducted upon the same site as the
former.
• The true nature of a workshop has been defined, and the occur-
rence of rude forms or failures in or their absence from certain
localities is thus reasonably accounted for.
It has been shown that the blade alone was carried away from the
quarry, that it is the cache form, and that it, with the whole range
of forms naturally derived fi^om it, are found upon village sites and
elsewhere.
That all or nearly all our quartzite .to^ls have been derived from
bowlders obtained in the Potomac valley near Washington, and that
there is every reason to believe that these quarries on Rock creek
are the main source.
That all chipped implements known to have been generally used
in this valley are thin forms, such as the knife-blade, the spear-point,
the arrow-head, the perforator, and the scraper, and that all these
are typical Indian forms, and that the art remains are practically a
unit.
That the existence here of another and a more ancient race than
the Indian has been predicated upon a class of objects which, being
mere refuse, have of themselves no ethnic or chronologic significance
whatever.
That our geologic evidence is extremely slight, but that what
there is seems to be rather against than for great age for the period
of occupation.
And, finally, that all visible evidence so far collected, chrono-
logic, cultural, and ethnical, point to the Indian as the laborer in
these quarries and as our only predecessor in the Potomac valley.
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26 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
In conclusion, let me say that I am ready to modify any of the
above statements, inferences, and conclusions when the facts are
found to warrant the change, and that I shall seek earnestly for evi-
dence of antiquity, and shall heartily welcome the appearance of an
early man upon a field of investigation whose interest will be quad-
rupled thereby.
In nearly every community may be found one or more enthusi-
astic devotees of archaeologic research, many of whom are actively
engaged in collecting relics of ancient art. It is rather exceptional,
however, to find the work systematically carried on ; to find adequate
records kept and proper care taken of the collections, and these are
prime considerations to those who would make their treasures avail-
able for scientific purposes. It is the collector who attends to these
matters, and especially he who at the same time devotes himself to
particular localities, who becomes in time the benefactor of archae-
ologic science.
The Potomac Valley is a fine field for the collector and student,
and this fact becomes more apparent every year. From the Apala-
chian region, meandered by the Upper Potomac, Mr. F. M. Orfut,
of Cumberland, has amassed a most valuable collection. Mr. Hal-
lett Phillips, S. V. Proudfit, and E. R. Reynolds, of Washington,
have each a large series of valuable relics. That of Mr. Phillips
illustrates a narrow belt bordering the banks of tide-water Potomac,
while the others are somewhat more general. The collection of
Mr. J. D. McGuire, of Ellicott City, ifaryland, is more than
usually important. It represents the region lying between Chesa-
peake Bay and the Lower Potomac, and is noticeable for a number
of unique features. Among these is a series of the products of the
ancient soapstone quarries of the region, including many roughed-
out pots and a remarkable series of rude pick-like tools of stone,
used in quarrying and shaping the vessels ; also a number of superb
sets of cache finds.
. Mr. N. S. Way and Mr. Wm. Hunter, of Mount Vernon, and Mr.
O. N. Bryan, of Marshall Hall, with several others, have done ex-
cellent work, and many of these gentlemen have contributed all or
a large part of their valuable finds to the National Museum.
W. H. Holmes.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] ANTHROPOLOGY IN PARIS. 27
ANTHROPOLOaV IN PARIS DURINQ THE BXPOSITION
OF 1889.
BY OTIS T. MASON.
The opportunities to study the natural history of man in Paris
during the Exposition, and especially in August, when the great
Congresses and the French Association held their sessions, were un-
paralleled in the history of anthropology. At any time the French
capital affords rare advantages to the anthropologist. The Mus^e
and Laboratoire Broca, the anthropometric operations of Bertillon
in the Palais de Justice, the courses of lectures in the ficole d' An-
thropologic, the collections in the Jardin des Plantes, the facilities
for original work in the ficoles de Medicine, and the hospitals give
to the comparative anatomist and biologist abundant employment.
The museums of human arts, however, are the crowning glory of
Paris. In them may be traced the whole history of France from the
first human action to the latest exposition ; and they are so divided
in function that the work of one does not interfere with the work
of the others.
To examine them in order one should commence with the palace
of St. Germain-en -Laye, 13 miles from Paris by rail, omnibus, or
boat. This beautiful structure was erected by Francis I for a royal
residence. Here were born Henry II, Charles IX, and Louis XIV,
and here died Louis XIII. Surrounded by a park of ten thousand
acres stands the building in which may be read the material record
of France down to the beginning of the Middle Ages. In one of
the upper halls, arranged in the most perfect order, is the story of
the Stone period. Here in the upper left-hand corner, as on a
printed page, you begin with the burned and wrought flints of the
Abbe Bourgeois, to which archaeologists go for proof of the existence
of man in early Tertiary. You will have no difficulty in finding
your way around the hall, but the Congr^ d'Anthropologie were so
fortunate as to have the venerable G. de Mortillet as guide, who
organized and arranged the exhibits with his own hands.
Few of the men who heard his address in August last will soon
forget his earnest manner and confident air as he explained and
defended the classification, now generally adopted for European
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28 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
archaeology. Some of the eminent and world-renowned exhibits
in this hall are the finds of Boucher de Perthes, at Abbeville, and
the relics of Solutr^, and of the caves of Western France.
The Director of the Museum, M. Alexander Bertrand, honored
the Congr^ with his presence, but the task of conducting the mem-
bers through the halls dgvoted to the Bronze Age, the Roman period,
and the early Christian occupation of France, devolved upon Dr.
Reinach, one of the rising young archaeologists of Paris, whose
familiarity with the subject is only equalled by his enthusiasm and
his eloquence.
Some of the members of the Congr^ had taken an early train to
St. Germain so as to spend the whole day on the ground. They
were amply repaid for their pains, and the American delegation,
especially, were astonished to see twelve large halls devoted to a
departmentof anthropology which in Washington is confined to one.
Before leaving the subject of the Stone Age, we must not forget
that special problems in archaeology arise upon the very site of Paris.
The Seine gravels and their revelations are illustrated in the St. Ger-
main Museum, but the Congr^ dovoted one day especially to the
explorations in this region, and adjourned at the invitation of Count
D'Acy to examine his private and unique collection from the Seine
valley around Paris.
The advantage of studying this vast material in company with the
most learned men in the world and under the guidance of the dis-
tinguished explorer himself was fully appreciated by all participating.
To continue the study of French history it is necessary to pass
from St. Germain to the Palais Thermes and Hotel de Cluny. The
most ancient Roman monument in Paris, known as Palais des
Thermes, was erected in the first year of the fourth century. Its con-
struction is attributed to Constantius Chlorus, father of Constan-
tine, who died in 306, and it is the last vestige of the vast structures
erected by the Roman emperors on the site of aiicient Lutetia.
It embraces great buildings, baths, and gardens of immense ex-
tent, and during several centuries was the residence of the first and
the second lines of French kings.
The Hotel de Cluny, erected for the most part on the ruins of the
Roman palace, dates from the second half of the fifteenth century and
is the sole specimen of the second Gothic period now intact in Paris.
In 1833 M- ^^ Sommerard chose the old establishment as an
asylum for his collection of objects illustrating thelirt of the Middle
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] ANTHROPOLOGY IN PARIS. 29
Ages and of the Renaissance. This collection was acquired by the
State in 1843 ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ museum was founded under the name of
•*Mus^ des Thermes et de T Hotel de Cluny.*' The galleries of
the hotel have been restored and the collections arranged to suit the
buildings. In the vaults of the old Roman palace are disposed all
the monuments in stone belonging to the fiallo-Roman and the
following centuries, the Roman altars erected to Jupiter by Parisian
sailors in the reign of Tiberias, the marble columns of the temple
on whose ruins was built the church of Notre Dame de Paris,
sculptures from St. Germain des Pres, St. Jean de Lateran, St.
Benoit, and other ancient buildings of Paris, and Gaulish monu-
ments from other parts of France collected by M. E. de Sommerard.
In the galleries of the Hotel de Cluny are the relics of the Middle
Age and of the Renaissance in stone, wood, ivory, enamel, glass,
faience, jewelry, armor, and weapons.
The age of the Palais de Thermes helps one to remember that the
dividing line between St. Germain and Cluny is about the. sixth
century. To one who loves to trace the growth of ideas and in-
ventions this is indeed a marvelous place. The arrangement is by
arts and by ages, so that the ceramist, the metallurgist, the wood-
carver, and the embroiderer enjoy the best opportunity to study
the results achieved in each art during a millennium.
The best displays of Gallic art triumphs in the modern period
must be studied in the Louvre Museum of Painting, Museum of
Drawing, Museum of Engraving, Museum of Antique Sculpture,
Museum of Middle Age and Renaissance Sculpture, Museum of
Modern French Sculpture, Museum of Assyrian Antiquities, Museum
of Egyptian Antfquities, Museum of Greek and Roman Antiquities,
Algerian Museum, Naval Museum, and Museum of the Sovereigns.
Still more actively associated with the history of French thought
and ingenuity are the Palais de Luxembourg, where are to be seen
the works of living artists, which have been purchased by the gov-
ernment after the annual exhibitions, in the Gobelin tapestry works,
the Sevres potteries, and a thousand other busy hives which I can-
not stop to mention.
The later studies of criminology, poverty, delinquency, fecundity,
longevity, vigor, stature, &c., all included in the two terms an-
thropometry and demography, find their best illustrations in such
operations as those of Alphonse Bertillon in the Palais de Justice
and the studies of the Soci^t6 d' Anthropologie.
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30 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
In addition to the history of France, the study of anthropology
for the whole world has been specially favored in Paris. For a
purely biological side of the science, or that which relates to man's
body simply, you must go to the Jardin des Plantes, where, und^r
the regime of the venerable de Quatrefages and Professor Gaudry,
you will be permitted to see an osteological collection set up with
special reference to the archaeology and natural history of man.
After that you cannot omit the Mus^e Broca, in order to witness
the active studies of Manouvrier and Chudzinski in osteometry,
where the results of the great Broca' s studies are preserved as a
monument to his memory, and where the Soci6t6 d' Anthropologic
de Paris and the ficole d' Anthropologic are both conducted.
To complete the anthropologic circle, the Mus6e Trocadero is de-
voted to the arts of modern peoples, arranged geographically. It is
to Paris what the Museum fiir Volkerkunde is to Berlin or the Royal
Museum of Ethnology is to Copenhagen. Here we are under the
guidance of Dr. E. T. Hamy, who is also the secretary general of
the Congrte.
Not very far from the Trocadero is one of the most interesting
collections in the world, called the Mus6e Guimet, after the illus-
trious citizen of the city of Lyons to whom it owes its existence.
This museum is devoted entirely to the history of religion, and so
far pays most attention to the great religions of antiquity and to the
modern Asiatic faiths. A separate home is set apart in the building
for each religion. For instance, the religion of Egypt occupies a
separate suite, the walls being covered with hieroglyphics. The col-
umns and ceilings are copied from ancient temples of the Nile. Even
the vitrines are faithful imitations in their legs and moldings of old
furniture belonging to the Pharaohs. It is the same in the Buddhist
and other rooms. The genius loci is the spirit of the religion illus-
trated. The city of Paris has furnished the ground and the French
government has erected the building, the most perfect of its kind in
the world, to honor the industry and learning of M. Guimet. To
add perfection to this unique museum, two publications have been
successfully conducted — ^Annales du Mus^ Guimet and Revue de
THistoire des Religions.
To add completeness to this sketch of anthropology in the French
metropolis a word should be said about the associations and publi-
cations devoted to our science. At present the Soci6t^ d' Ethno-
graphic and the Soci6t6 d' Anthropologic are the active agents in the
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] ANTHROPOLOGY IN PARIS. 31
Study of the natural history of man, the latter being far in the lead.
A very complete course of lectiu-es has been organized and is an-
nually conducted by the members of this society, and called the
Ecole d'Anthropologie.
The publications of greatest merit have been up to this time-
Bulletin de la Soci^t^ d'Anthropologie de Paris.
R6vue d'Anthropologie.
R^vue d'Ethnographie.
R^vue de THistoire des Religions.
Materiaux pour THistoire primitive et naturelle de THomive.
At the present moment some of these are in a state of fusion, and
new ones devoted to demography and other social questions are to
be founded. Indeed, further mention should be made of Archives
de TAnthropologie Criminelle et des Sciences P^nales, the publica-
tions of r Institution Ethnographique, Bibliotheque des Sciences
Contemporaines, Bibliotheque Anthropologique, Bulletin de la So-
ci^t^ de Geographie, Dictionnaire des Sciences Anthropologiques,
Gazette Arch^ologique, Journal Asiatique, Les litt^ratures populaires
de toutes les Nations, Mdusine, R6vue de Mythologie, etc., R^vue
Arch^ologique, R6vue de Linguistique.
It would not be proper to omit from this notice of special pleasures
and advantages accorded to the anthropologists who visited Paris in
August the delight which every one experienced in being able to
look into the faces of distinguished men previously known only by
correspondence and through their published works. Besides the
French savants already named and many more, there were present
from England, the Continent of Europe, and from the two Americas
the best-known anthropologists. This pleasure was somewhat marred
by the conspicuous absence of our German confreres, who had an
excellent opportunity to show their magnanimity, and lost it. It is,
therefore, with the greater satisfaction that the presence of Dr. Schlie-
mann is mentioned and his part in the discussions noted. '
But the crowning glory of anthropology was the French Exposi-
tion. Any one who visited that great spectacle became speedily
convinced that the interests and studies of the anthropologists of
Paris had not been confined to France. It was possible to see there
twelve types of Africans, besides Javanese, Tonkinese, Chinese, Ja-
panese, and other oriental peoples, living in native houses, wearing
native costumes, eating native food, practicing native arts and rites
on the Esplanade des Invalides side by side with the latest inven-
tions and .with the whole civilized world as spectators.
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32 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
It was possible to commence near the base of the " Tour de trois
cent metres *' with models in actual size of rock shelters, igloos, wig-
wams, bark lodges, straw hovels, and, without leaving the grounds,
to study every style of habitation in which human beings have ever
lived or ruled or worshipped.
It was possible to trace the stream of inventions devoted to travel
or transportation from snow-shoes, stilts, and other simple aids to
locomotion through the domestication of animals, wheel carriages,
navigation, steam-travel, electro-motion, and aeronautics.
Htre in one building were groups of men and women, life size,
illustrating the first French cave-dwellings, dressed in skin and work-
ing with paleolithic implements; the Cro-Magnon man and his wife
carving an antler ; ancient Mexicans manipulating agave fibre ; the
dolmen-builders at work on a model which is actually a cast of one
of the most celebrated in Europe ; a group of men working in flint
quarries ; the first smiths, in the persons of a group of Congo ne-
groes, operating with stone tools and monkey-skin bellows ; a group
•illustrating the Bronze Age, tent makers and dwellers, Chinese pot-
ters and cloisonne-workers, Assyrian sculptors surrounded by typical
furniture and cuneiform inscriptions, Grecian potters producing the
beautiful black and red ware often called Etruscan, Roman matrons
spinning and weaving, and perhaps others.
This artistic grouping was intensified and vivified by the presence
of men, women, and children in the several spaces devoted to for-
eign exhibits actually engaged in more species of hand-work than
there is space here to enumerate. Add now to the rich collections
of specimens, illustrations, and literature always accessible in Paris
and to the exposition, in which greater attention was paid to an-
thropology than in any previous one, the presence of the congresses,
and some appreciation of the activity and interest of the occasion
may be attained.
In addition to the sessions of the French Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, whose meetings and papers were supplemented
by frequent visits to the Exposition, there were 120 Congresses in
Paris during the months from May to October, inclusive. All of
these had some reference to man and his works, and a few of them
were purely anthropological, to wit :
June 24-29. Protection of Works of Art and of Monuments.
Aug. 4-1 1. Hygiene and Demography.
Aug. 5-11. Physiological Psychology.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] ANTHROPOLOGY IN PARIS. 33
Aug. 8-15. Association Fran^aise pour T Advancement des Sci-
ences.
Aug. 10-17. Anthropologie Criminelle.
Aug. 19-26. Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology.
N. D. Sciences Ethnographiques.
N. D. Traditions Populaires.
All these were important occasions, for which the amplest pro-
vision had been made by enthusiastic specialists. In each of them
the latest methods of research were earnestly discussed and not al-
ways with perfect unanimity. The future of each branch of inquiry
was also a matter of constant study. The papers read were worthy
of publication, only if all that was said and done in all the Con-
gresses were published the world would scarcely contain the books.
The meeting for which the greatest preparations were made was
the tenth reunion of the Congrfe Intemationile d'Anthropologie et
d'Arch^ologie Pr^historiques, the ninth session having been held in
Lisbon, September, 1880. The sessions for the reading and discus-
sion of' papers were held in the assembly hall of the University.
The questions discussed in the Congress were the following :
1. Erosion and filling of valleys and filling of caverns, both in
their relation to the antiquity of man.
2. Periodicity of glacial phenomena.
3. Arts and industries in the caverns and in the alluvium. Value
of palaeoiTtological and archaeological classifications applied to the
quaternary epoch.
4. Chronological relations between the ages of stone, bronze, and
iron.
5. Relations between the civilizations of Hallstadt and other sta-
tions in Daubes and those of Mycenae, Tirhyns, Issarlik, and the
Caucasus.
6. Critical examination of crania and other human bones alleged
to have been found in the quaternary during the last fifteen years.
Ethnic elements peculiar to the different ages of stone, bronze, and
iron in Central and Western Europe.
7. Ethnographic survivals which throw light upon the social con-
dition of primitive populations in Central and Western Europe.
8. How far do archaeologic or ethnographic analogies authorize
the hypothesis of prehistoric consanguinity or of migrations ?
Under any circumstances the consideration of such important
questions by so learned a body of specialists would have been worthy
5
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34 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
of attention. But consider the auspices under which these meetings
were held ! The local committee of arrangements — including the,
to us, well-known names of de Quatrefages, Bertrand, Hamy, Car-
tailhac, Chantre, Duval, Edwards, Faedherbe, Girard de Rialle,
Hubert, Lagneau, Letoumeau, Mortillet, Nadaillac, Pozzi, Reinach,
and Topinard — left nothing to be desired.
If the anthropologists did not organize the great Exposition they
at least furnished the presiding genius. Without doubt, of all ex-
positions that have been held that of 1889 was most thoroughly an-
thropological. The members of the Congr^s, both individually and
collectively under excellent guidance, found the collections in the
Palais des Arts Liberaux specially interesting.
The History of Industries, of which mention has been already
made, was organized by Mm. Hamy, Cartailhac, Nadaillac, and
Topinard, as well as the reconstructions of prehistoric and ancient
life. Besides these, we were called upon to note M. Piette's collec-
tion from the grotto of Mas-d'Azil and the grotto d'Arudy ; those
of Mm. Massenat, de Lastic, Hardy, Paysant, Feaux, Maillard, Tat6,
Capitan, and others ; others from the rude and the polished stone
period made by Lecoq, Collin, and the Scientific Society of
Archachon; dolmens explored by the Soci^t^ Polymathique de
Morbihan ; illustrations of the age of bronze and of iron in France,
Persia, Caucasus, and of the prehistoric archaeology of Spain ; col-
lections from the stone age in French Africa, Cochin China, Japan,
Oceanica ; Scytho-Byzantine objects from the Caucasus ; Mexican
archaeology; Gallo-Roman archaeology, and, most attractive of all,
the stone age of Denmark — ^an exhibit of which Dr. MOller and Dr.
Schmidt were justly proud.
In this same Palais des Arts Liberaux there were ethnographic
collections, such as those from Oceanica made by Bourdil, Foureau,
Cunesset-Carnot, Collignon, Dort, Mougeot, Holbe, and Bourdil ;
others from Mozambique and Australia, and those of Prince Roland
Bonaparte.
There was also a creditable display in anatomy, though it was very
much crowded, to illustrate the comparative anatomy of man and
the higher animals, the fossil men of France, and crania from various
regions. The models and casts to show the latest studies in crimi-
nal anthropology were also much examined.
In the space allotted to the Missions Scientifiques in the same build-
ing were anthropological specimens from Greenland, Oronoco, and
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] ANTHROPOLOGY IN PARIS. 35
Other parts of South America, West Africa and the Canaries, Indo-
China and Cambodia, Malaysia and Ceylon, and New Guinea.
Besides the anthropological exhibits in the Palais de T Industrie,
much material relating to our special subject was to be seen in the
colonial and foreign pavilions. For example, Finland, Mexico,
Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Hawaii, Portugal, New
Guinea, Transvaal, Algeria, Tunis, Anam and Tonkin, French India,
Tahiti and French Ocean ica, New Caledonia, Mayotte, Guiana, Sene-
gal, Gabon, CongOj Guadeloupe (Guesde), Cambodia, Cochin
China, and Java.
A portion of the space near the Invalides was set apart for the ex-
hibition of African and Franco-Indian natives at their characteristic
occupations, chief among the popular attractions of which were the
Javanese theatre and the Annamite Buddhist temple. The members
of the Congr^, guided by the local committee, spent many hours
in these savage enclosures and houses studying the people and their
arts and listening to their rude music.
Under such favorable auspices met the Ninth Congress of Anthro-
pology and Prehistoric Archaeology. It will be .long before such
wonderful advantages are again brought together for studying the
natural history of man.
The previous congresses have been as follows :
Congrds internationale d' Anthropologic et d*Archeologic prehis-
torique, founded in Spezzia in 1865.
Congrfe :
1. Neufchatel, 1866. Compte rendu, 8vo ; Paris, 1866.
2. Paris, 1867. Compte rendu, 8 vo ; Paris, 1868.
3. Norwich, 1868. Compte rendu, 8vo; London, 1869.
4. Copenhagen, 1869. Compte rendu, 8vo; Copenhagen, 1870.
5. Bologna, 1871. Compte rendu, 8vo ; Bologna, 1873.
6. Bruxelles, 1872. Compte rendu, 8vo ; Bruxelles, 1873.
7. Stockholm, 1874. Compte rendu, 8vo ; Chalons, 1875.
8. Buda.Pesth, 1876. Compte rendu, 2 vols.,8vo; Buda-Pesth,
1887.
9. Lisbon, 1880.
10. Paris, 1889.
So marked was the success of the Paris Exposition in regard to
to its anthropologic results that it would seem to be most fitting to
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36 THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
invite our foreign associates to meet us in 1892 at our own exposi-
tion on American soil, where occur so many problems of interest to
the whole anthropologic world.
The Ethnologic Affinities of the Ancient Etruscans. —
Starting out with the assumption that the ethnologic position of the
ancient Etruscans is yet unsolved, Dr. Brinton contributes an im-
portant paper to the subject which is now reprinted from the Proc.
Am. Philos.'Soc., Vol. XXVI, Oct. 25, 1889. The author com-
pares the geographical position of the ancient Etruscans in Italy,
their physical traits, culture, and above all such remains of their
language as have been rescued from inscriptions of monuments and
the few words handed down by the classical writers with the like
features of the Kabyles of Algiers, and with their parent stem the
ancient Libyans, and advances cogent reasons for considering that
all are genetically related. His conclusions are categorically stated
as follows :
1. The uniform testimony of the ancient writers and of their own
traditions asserts that the Etruscans came across the sea from the
south and established their first settlement on Italian soil near Tar-
quinii ; this historic testimony is corroborated by the preponder-
ance of archseologic evidence as yet brought forward. ,
2. Physically the Etruscans were a people of lofty stature, of the
blonde type, with dolichocephalic heads. In these traits they cor-
responded precisely with the blonde type of the ancient Libyans,
represented by the modern Berbers and the Guanches, the only
blonde people to the south.
3. In the position assigned to woman and in the system of federal
government the Etruscans were totally different from the Greeks,
Orientals, and Turanians ; but were in entire accord with the Libyans.
4. The phonetics, grammatical plan, vocabulary, numerals, and
proper names of the Etruscan tongue present many and close analo-
gies with the Libyan dialects, ancient and modern.
5. Linguistic science, therefore, concurs with tradition, archae-
ology, sociologic traits, and anthropologic evidence in assigning a
genetic relationship of the Etruscans to the Libyan family.
H. W. Henshaw.
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Jan. 1890,] THE ESKIMO OF POINT BARROW. 37
NOTES ON COUNTINO AND MBASURINa AMONG THE
ESKIMO OF POINT BARROW.*
BY JOHN MURDOCH.
From September, 1881, to August, 1883, ^^^ writer was stationed
in the immediate neighborhood of the large Eskimo villages at Cape
Smyth and Point Barrow, Arctic Alaska, as a member of the Inter-
national Polar Expedition, and had the good fortune to become
intimately acquainted with a large number of their interesting in-
habitants.
These Eskimo have had comparatively little intercourse with
civilized men, as it is only within the last thirty-five years, or since
the time when H. M. S. "Plover" passed two winters at Point
Barrow as a depot ship, during the great Franklin search expedi-
tions, that the American whalemen have resorted to that region.
Before the time of the Franklin search they had seen white men
upon only two occasions, namely, when Elson, in the " Blossom's "
barge, discovered and named Point Barrow, in 1826, and when
Thomas Simpson, coming from the Mackenzie river, reached the
same point in 1837.
Consequently they were but little changed from their primitive
condition of culture, and retained their.language almost in its origi-
nal purity. In the process of collecting linguistic material among
them, some interesting points were discovered in regard to their
methods of counting and measuring, and these have been brought
together in the present paper.
The language spoken at Point Barrow is sufficiently like that of the
Greenlanders and other eastern Eskimo to be readily understood
by them. This fact has been already pointed out by various writers.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, the chief phonetic difference
between the two dialects, apart from the fact that the vowel sounds
are frequently different in words otherwise identical, appears to be
that a surd consonant in Greenlandic, especially at the end of the
word, is represented by the cognate nasal at Point Barrow, and
that the so-called ** fricative lingual '' jj (pronounced sh or like the
* Read before the Society, December 4, 1888.
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38 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
French/) of the Greenlandic becomes a true rolled r. Bearing
these phonetic changes in mind, the resemblance of the Point Bar-
row system of numeration to that of the other dialects is very
striking.
It was not easy to obtain any accurate information about the
numeral system of these people, since in ordinary conversation they
are not in the habit of specifying any numbers above five. Six and
all higher numbers are ordinarily spoken of asamadraktOk— " many.'*
The same has been noticed among other Eskimo. For example,
Captain Parry speaks of " the imperfect arithmetic of these people
(the natives of Fury and Hecla Straits), which resolves every num-
ber above ten into one comprehensive word '* (Second Voyage, p.
549)-
They have, however, a series* of numerals running at least as high
as one hundred, most of which seem to be but rarely used. This
agrees with the observations of Pastor Brodbeck among the East
Greenlanders in 1882 — ** Zahlen konnen die heidnischen Gronlander
nur mangelhaft, uber 20 hinaus versteigen sie nichtgem" (Nach
Osten, p. 42). Those most frequently used are the words for ten,
fifteen, and twenty. We did not succeed in collecting many of the
other high numerals, and many of them appear to be somewhat
cumbrous periphrases, which might be invented on the spur of the
moment for expressing quantities which were appreciated, but for
which there existed no single definite word.
The first five of the numerals and the word for ten are essentially
the same as what are called the " real numerals'* in the Greenland
dialect, and the remainder appear to be made by repeating these
numerals in connection with ** part-words** (theilworter), which
indicate on which hand or foot the counting is done (see Klein-
schmidt, Groenlandische Grammatik, § 42, p. 37). Together they
form the series of cardinal numerals, which, as far as we could learn,
are used only in concrete numbers, in the sense of numeral adjec-
tives. The ** real numerals ** are :
1. Ata'uzik, corresponding to Greenlandic atausek.
2. Ma'dro, " " mardluk.
3. Pi'fiasun, " " pingasut.
4. Si'saman, ** ** sisamat.
5. Tfl'dlemflt, " " tatdlimat
10. Kodlin, " " kulit.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] THE ESKIMO OP POINT BARROW. 39
The "part-words'* were not obtained very accurately, and are
used in a somewhat different way from the Greenland method.
Akbinigin, or akbinidigin, appears to be a form of arfinek '*on the
second hand/' but seems to have a more generalized meaning —
/. e,, "on the next hand or foot." Six is therefore expressed in
full "atautyimifi akbinigin tudlim(i(t)/' "five (and) once on the
next " (or if tftdlimflt is derived, as has been suggested, from talek,
the arm, "one hand and once on the next*'), or "atautyimifi
akbi'nigin,*' or simply "akbi'nigin,** when a Greenlander would say
" arfinek-atausek, onbe on the next hand." In the same manner
seven is "twice on the next," "madro'nifi akbi'nigin," and eight
"three times on the next," "piflas'unifi akbi'nigin." Nine, how-
ever, is formed differently, being kodlinqtai'la, which appears to mean
" that which has not its ten." Ten, kod'lin (kulit) is supposed to
be derived from kut or kule, "the upper part," referring to the
number of digits on the hands of a man.
The intermediate phrases " one on the first foot," &c., for eleven,
twelve, and so on, were never heard, but instead of "five on the
foot" for fifteen (made in Greenlandic with the "part-word"
arkanek or isigkane) we found what appears to be a " real numeral "
akimi'a, not occurring in the other dialects. From this word is
sometimes made a word for fourteen, akimiaxotaityufia, " I have
not fifteen." Twenty, inyui'na means "a man completed " (from
i'nu [G. inuk] a man, and inirpi to complete it), meaning that in
counting twenty we use all the fingers and toes of one man. The
expression in Greenland is slightly different from this, being inuk
navdlugo, "a man come to an end." Twenty-five and thirty are
" inyui'na tftdlim^inifi akbini'digin," " twenty and five times on the
the next," and "inyui'na kodlinifi akbini'digin," twenty (and) ten
times," &c. Thirty-five is " inyui'na akim'iamifi aipalifi," "twenty
accompanied by one fifteen times." Forty is " two twenties," madro
inyui'na or " madrolipi'a." The last part of the latter word appears
again in tCk'dlimdbipi'a, one hundred, and perhaps is another phrase
for "twenty." In the word for 100 the first part is the " subjec-
tive " or possessive form of tft'dlimtit, five. The expressions in
Greenlandic and other Eskimo dialects for these higher numbers
are very different, which is pretty strong evidence that they have
been developed since the separation of the Eskimo into their
different branches. For example, in Greenlandic twenty-five is
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40 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
intlp aipagsdne tatdUmat^ " five on the second man," and thirty is
"ten on the second man/' ^^ in&p cUpagssane kuiit*^ In the
Mackenzie dialect these two numbers are respectively iglut talle-
matopk and innok kpolinik-tchikpaUk,
On the other hand, the "real numerals" are wonderfully alike
in all the vocabularies that have been collected, showing that before
their separation the Eskimo were in the habit of reckoning at least
to five.
It is evident from the cumbrous forms of the higher numerals
that any arithmetical processes are difficult if not impossible.
Mr. Richard Cull, in an article describing three Eskimo brought
to England from Cumberland Gulf, in 1854 (published in the
Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, v. 5, 1856, pp.
215-225), goes to worjc quite elaborately to use the numerals he
learned from them in various arithmetical processes. He shows
that addition and subtraction, and even multiplication and division,
can be performed with these numerals, but the processes are exceed-
ingly cumbersome, and, so far as I can learn, entirely foreign to
Eskimo modes of thought.
The Point Barrow natives, however, appear capable of a sort of
crude addition, since in counting objects they divide them into
groups of five and obtain the sum total from the number of these
groups. In counting up to five, the ordinal numerals are used, as in
the other dialects. With the exception oiaVpa^ "second," which,
as in Greenlandic, means " his companion " (viz., the companion of
the first), these are the cardinal numbers with the "suffix" of the
third person, which indicates that the word to which it is applied
belongs to something else. Kleinschmidt's explanation of this usage
is that each ordinal is supposed to be the property of the preceding.
For instance, third is " [the two] its third," fourth is " [the three]
their fourth," and so on. "First," then, in the Point Barrow
dialect, must mean " their first," referring to those that follow. In
Greenlandic and other dialects a different word is used for first,
namely, sujugdUk (with its dialectic variants), " the foremost."
This word is not easily recognized in the form in which it is found
at Point Barrow, sibwudliy where we only heard it used as the name
of the star Arcturus, but the form of the word, t^ivulepk \t^ivuleJi\,
in the Mackenzie River dialect, connects the tw(^ widely distant
forms.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.1 THB ESKIMO OP POINT BAEROW. 41
The ordinals at Point Barrow are as follows :
Atau'zia, first.
Ai'pa, second (Gr., aipa).
Pifiayua, third (pingajuat).
Si'saraa, fourth (sisamat).
Tftdlima, fifth (tatdlimat).
The question "How many?'* is frequently asked in the form
" How many times? " [sc. is the object repeated], using the Modalis
** kapsi'nia.'* The numeral in the answer is then in the same case,
"atau'tyimifi," " madro'nifi," &c.
Methods of measuring space appear to be in the most primitive
state. Our vocabulary contains no words indicating any standard
of length or of size, and there appear to be none in use among other
Eskimo. Of late years, however, in their dealings with the whites
the Point Barrow people have learned to measure calico, drilling,
&c., by the fathom — that is, the length from tip to tip of the out-
stretched arms.
Time is measured by the sun when it is visible, or by some of the
stars at night. For Instance, they say "We started when the sun
was yonder (in the heavens) and travelled till it was yonder." Arc-
turus, Sibwu'dli, is the time-piece of the seal-netters. When this
star has passed over to the east they know that dawn is at hand and
that netting is nearly over.
The length of a journey is reckoned by the number of " sleeps '*
(compare Parry, ad Voyage, p. 556), and time is sometimes reck-
oned by the moon. For instance, they told us that "when this
moon is gone and the next moon is little the whales will come."
We learned three names for seasons of the year — ^u'kio, winter,
and u'pifla and upiflaksa, warm weather. These words correspond
to the Greenlandic upernak, spring, and upemagssak, early spring.
Dr. John Simpson, R. N., who was the surgeon of the depot ship
"Plover," and who published a very accurate sketch of the Eskimo
df Point Barrow ("Observations on the Western Eskimo and the
Country They Inhabit," originally printed as an appendix to the
report of the commander* of the "Plover" in the Parliamentary
Reports for 1855, and reprinted in "A Selection of Papers on Arctic
Geography and Ethnology," prepared by the Royal Geographical
Society for the English Arctic Expedition in 1875, PP* *33"27S)»
states that the year is divided into four seasons, and the names we
6
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42 THK AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
obtained correspond to those he gives for "late winter" and "early
summer," or spring and summer.
We obtained with some difficulty the names of nine moons or
lunar months of the year, but were told that for the rest of the year
"there was no moon, only the sun." Dr. Simpson, however, ob-
tained names for all twelve moons. The names of these moons were
given differently by different informants, and do not wholly agree
with those given by Simpson. It is quite likely that they are not
invariable, and may be going out of general use. They begin to
reckon the months from the time when the- women begin sewing upon
deer-skins, in the autumn, according to Simpson, starting with the
first new moon after Elson Bay freezes over. They are as follows :
1. Su'dlivwifi (Shud'-le-wing, Simpson), "the time for working —
/. ^., sewing."
2. Su'dlivwifi ai'pa (shudlewing aipa), " the second time for sew-
ing," or su'dlivwifi kifiu'lia, " the succeeding sewing-time."
3. Kaibwid-wi (Kai-wig'-win), roughly speaking, December, the
time of the great dances. Dr. Simpson's form of this name, which
he translates "rejoicing," appears to be more correct than the one
obtained by us, since "kaiwi'gwifi" (frbm Gr. kivigpok) would
mean " the time for going round in a circle " (as in the dance).
The name probably should be translated " the time for dancing."
4. Ida'sugaru (Ir-ra-shu'-ga-run, "great cold ") is the dark mid-
winter moon, at the end of which the sun comes back — ^about Janu-
ary 23. The name appears to be derived from G. issik, cold ; but
I have been unable to analyze the compound. It is also called
sftktinyatyia (sha-ke-ndt-si-a), " little sun," and sftkflnyasCigaru.
5. Audlaktovwifi (au-lak'-to-win), " the time for starting out " (to
the deer-hunt), from audlakto, to start. I am confident that Simp-
son was wrong in placing this moon before the preceding, as the
deer-hunting parties certainly do not start till the February moon
after the sun has returned.
6. Sttksilibwi (e-sek-si-la'-wing), the next moon (March). This
word, of which Doctor Simpson's form appears to be more correct
than ours, seems to mean "the time for starting to come home."
7. Umisttrbwifi (kat-tet-d-wak, returning for whales), " the time
for making ready the boats" (April).
8. Kadkerbwifi (ka-wait-piZ-i-en, birds arrive) (May) appears to
mean " the time for fowling," from an apparent variant of kafiwe,
fowl.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] THE ESKIMO OF POINT BARROW. 43
9. Yogniabwifi (ka-wai-niv'-i-en, birds hatched), the time for
bringing forth — i. e.y laying eggs '' (June).
As already stated, we learned no names for the other three moons.
They have definite words for to-day, and several preceding and
following days. ** To-day*' \%kunmii!mHih<^xt are other expressions,
but this was the one commonly used in their intercourse with us).
This word, which is evidently in what Kleinschmidt calls the localis
case, does not appear in Greenlandic, where the expression used is
uvdiume, ** in the [present] day." ** To-morrow *' is ublaxo or, per-
haps more properly, ubldkun (literally, ** in the morning," a curious
coincidence with the German ^* morg^n^^), and "yesterday," unuH-
m&n (literally, '* when it was evening "). ** Day before yesterday "
and "day after to-morrow" are both called by the same name,
tkpu^ksa (which is the same as the Greenlandic igpagssak, " yester-
day "), and the third day from the present either way, with all pre-
ceding or following days for a short period, are called is/a. This
is the same as the Greenlandic ivsak^ " some days ago." For long
periods in the past (we were given to understand more than four
years ago) they say aipdni (literally, "in the other [sc. time]").
For very ancient times, beyond the memory of living man, they say
adrdni. Future time was generally referred to as nandko, nandkun,
" by-and-by," or when some expected event, like the going of the
ice or the coming of the ships, should happen.
It will be seen that the expressions which they use for past time
are too vague to render it possible to learn the date of any event in
their history or traditions, unless it qan be referred to the time of
the Plover's visit,, beyond which we have no well-defined date with
which they are acquainted.
The Aboriginal Bark-Peeler. — In several archaeological mu-
seums of Europe, notably in the Royal Museum, in Copenhagen,
implements of bone are to be seen, often made of a rib, whose func-
tion has not been known. The implement referred to is sharpened
to a wedge-shaped edge at the lower extremity, the body is slightly
bent along its entire length, and the upper end is rounded for a
handle. z* •
Implements of precisely similar form are. now in use by the Indians
of the Pacific coast of America, from Oregdh to Alaska for peeling
bark from the cedar trees.^ Doubtless similar tools were, formerly in
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44 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
use in the birch-bark country and in South and Central America,
where a kind of rude tapa cloth was beaten from the bark of the lace-
bark tree {Lagetta lintearia).
One specimen from the Tulalip Agency, in Washington Territory,
is made of elk antler, sixteen inches long and sharpened at either
end. The Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands and the adjoining
mainland employ a great many smaller peelers to take off large slabs
of bark in an unbroken condition for the roofs of their houses.
These implements are less than a foot long and are made of the ribs
of the deer.
The process of bark-peeling is a very ingenious one. A tree is
hacked around quite through the bark in furrows about four feet
apart. A vertical slit is also made. Then, by means of a series of
the peelers, the bark is lifted from the tree and kept in flat form by
a series of plugs and props until it dries. It remains flat after dry-
ing and is cut into sections suitable for shingles. For taking off" the
bark to be made into cords, baskets, cinctures, etc., the same
amount of shaping is not necessary, but the peeler is universally used
in separating the bark. The birch-bark canoe was formerly em-
ployed along our northern boundary wherever the birch tree was
abundant, and it would be well to study the method of separating
the bark from the trees. O. T. Mason.
A Very Ancient Tomahawk. — It is generally known that the
iron tomahawk with a pipe on the blunt end is an invention of the
white man, and counts for nothing in the study of primitive indus-
tries. In the ethnographic collection in Copenhagen is an antique-
looking specimen with a blade of stone, resembling a diminutive
specimen of our common two-ended pick, or more precisely, like one
of those blades that are fitted into a socket on the handle and have
no eyelet. The stone blade in question is lashed to a worm-eaten
handle by means of rawhide just like an Eskimo pick. In the col-
lection of the National Museum are two such blades without handles*
both from New York. These furnish good evidence that the Copen-
hagen Museum specimen is an aboriginal tomahawk of the New York
Indians, made before the iron ones were adopted. So far as we
know it is the only perfect specimen in the world.
O. T. Mason.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A NEW LINGUISTIC FAMILY. 45
A NBW LINGUISTIC FAMIL7 IN CALIFORNIA.
BY H. W. HENSHAW.
In delving among the rarer books and manuscripts which relate
to the early history of America, the student not unfrequently comes
across mention of tribes which have vanished and have left their
names as the sole record of their existence. They died and left no
monuments. Yet the researches of the archaeologist may bring to
light the stone implements such peoples made and used, and thus,
to a limited degree, we may obtain glimpses of the culture state
they lived in and form some idea of their mode of life.
Substantial as are such archaeologic clews and important links as
they are in reconstructing the past life of their former owners, they
are by no means the most important of the heir-looms which re-
search occasionally places in the hands of the student, since they
throw little or no light upon the relationship of their owners and
but dimly pierce the obscurity of their past history. Evidence of a
much more satisfactory sort occasionally awaits the search of the
linguistic student, when in turning the forgotten pages of history he
finds vocabularies of the speech of vanished races, and is thus let in,
as it were, to their inner selves, obtaining glimpses of their daily
thought and religious ideas, and receiving hints of their relationship
to other and it may be to living tribes. The latter may to some
extent repeat their habits and "peculiari ties, and perhaps may furnish
suggestions of their origin, migrations, etc. How clear an insight
into such matters may be afforded by a study of the language of a
people and how minute the details gathered by the linguistic student
is to be seen by the remarkable results obtained by students of the
Aryan languages, who are able to present a panorama of the daily
life and thought of the old Aryans almost as though they had wit-
nessed what they describe.
It is the purpose of the present paper to call atljention to one of
these vanished peoples, not because the facts to be given concerning
it are either many or satisfactory, but with the primary purpose of
recording such facts as are known, few and unsatisfactory though
they be, and more important still of directing the attention of
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46 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Students to the importance of searching: for similar cases. In the
present instance, indeed, even more may be hoped; for, while
the people in question has been lost sight of for a hundred
years or more, it is possible that a few survivors yet remain, and it
is to be hoped that this fact once known the zeal of investigators
may be stimulated and new and richer gleanings be added to the
small store already harvested.
The people I refer to are a tribe known by the name Esselen or
E^clemachs, and formerly lived in California, to the east and south
of the Monterey Bay, and with other neighboring tribes were
gathered into the San Carlos Mission of Monterey, in 1770.
The first clew to the existence of a group of California Indians
different from any recognized by recent students was obtained by
Mr. Curtin, of the Bureau of Ethnology, from the rare collection of
newspaper articles by Alexander Taylor. Though not a learned
man, Taylor was an indefatigable student and reader, as well as an
assiduous collector of Indian lore. Between the years i860 to 1863
he published in the California Farmer, a weekly paper, all the
material bearing upon California Indians he himself was able to
gather and, as well, copious notes and extracts from the Mission
records and from such of the early writers as he had access to. The
result is a mass of material badly arranged, or, more properly, not
arranged at all, illy digested and not always wisely selected, but
still forming a contribution to the subject neither to be despised nor
to be overlooked by the student of to-day. This author copies two
vocabularies, one from Galiano, the other from La Perouse, and a
comparison of the 39 words they contain seemed to show that here
was an absolutely distinct linguistic family which had been entirely
overlooked. The early date at which these vocabularies were taken,
1786 and 1792, and the fact that the Indians appear not to have
been seen by any subsequent investigator, seemed to negative the
hope that any of them might still survive. The doubt of there being
any survivors seemed to be strengthened by the fact that Taylor
visited Monterey in 1856 and took a vocabulary of the supposed
''Eselenes," which, however, unfortunately turns out to represent the
neighboring Rumsien language of which there are a number of good
vocabularies extant. As the writer was about to visit the west coast
for the purpose of linguistic investigations, the rediscovery of the
lost Esselen tribe was made a prime object of the trip. For this, as
well as for other linguistic purposes, an exhaustive search was made
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A NEW LINGUISTIC FAMILY. 47
through the counties of Marin and Monterey, to the north and
south of San Francisco. While some very interesting linguistic
results were obtained, some time passed before any clew to the
Esselen people was secured.
It is a melancholy fact that in middle California the Indians have
almost wholly disappeared. Here and there upon the outskirts .of
some town or in the nooks of some remote cation of the foothills is
still left an occasional Indian, man or woman, more rarely a family,
whose identity, however, is so swallowed up by the prevailing Mexi-
can type that one may spend days in a town inquiring for Indians
without finding a person who chances to be acquainted with an
aborigine. There are many Mexicans in middle and southern Cali-
fornia who socially and physically are not a whit superior to the
Indian, and in the motley throng the occasional Indian passes un-
noticed except by the few. Their identity is the more readily lost
because all of them, without exception,* speak the Mexican dialect
of Spanish, and never by any chance let fall in public a word of their
own language ; and indeed why should they ? They are now so few
in number that the old people rarely have a chance to converse
together in their native tongue, while the young, who are mostly
half-breeds, associate chiefly with the Mexicans and never learn the
language of their fathers. Indeed it is a fact that in a number of
instances the children of Indian women heard their mother's lan-
guage for the first time when she repeated words and phrases to me
for the purpose of notation.
Failing to discover anyone in San Francisco who knew of the
whereabouts of Indians in either counties above mentioned, I set
out for the vicinity of San Rafael Mission, 75 miles to the north.
Knowing how tenaciously the Indians cling to the neighborhood of
their former home, I selected this as the most likely spot to find any
survivors. Not a single Indian, however, lives in or near the town,
nor could I learn of any in the neighboring towns ; when finally
I heard of the existence of a few it was on the coast to the north,
near the entrance of Tomales Bay. Here I found several men and
two women, from one of whom I obtained an excellent vocabulary
of the dialect spoken at the Mission. With this I was obliged to
rest content, as none of the Indians on the Bay knew of others or
were aware of the existence of any dialect but the one I obtained.
The interest attaching to the language of this locality is due to the
fact that its relationship has been the subject of discussion. By sqme
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48 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [ Vol. III.
scholars it has been assumed that one linguistic family occupied the
peninsula north of San Francisco Bay and the whole country coast-
wise for a considerable distance south and as far east as the head-
waters of the Moquelumne, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Merced, and
others. A comparison of vocabularies, now in possession of the
Bureau, by Mr. Curtin and myself, however, had raised doubts as
to the correctness of this conclusion. As the result of a study of the
vocabularly obtained at Tomales Bay with the others from this region
in possession of the Bureau, and those subsequently obtained at the
south, I am now convinced that the area in question was formerly
occupied by two entirely distinct families.
Subsequently I journeyed to the southward and visited Santa
Cruz, where formerly was another old mission. Upon the outskirts
of this town and almost in the shadow of the church — the officiating
priest of which told me there were absolutely no Indians in the
neighborhood — I found a little colony of Indians and half-breeds
who had a respectable knowledge of the dialects formerly spoken by
the Indians of the locality. To every Indian I met I repeated word
for word the Esselen vocabularies of Gal iano and Lamanon, but none
of them recognized the yrords as of a language they ever heard
spoken. Disappointed, though by no means disheartened, I turned
to Monterey as the Mecca of my hopes, as there I expected to find
a considerable number of the once numerous old Mission Indians
still clinging to the land formerly filled by their fathers. On the con-
trary, nearly all the Indians have disappeared and a number of days
passed before I found myself face to face with an aborigine; at the
present time there are probably not more than half a dozen pure
bloods found anywhere in this locality. One of the number, an old
woman of perhaps 65, proved an honest and willing subject and she
herself volunteered the information I had so long sought. While
mentioning the names of the rancherias formerly about the mission,
she spoke of the Esselen tribe as a people who lived to the east and
south of the Bay and whose language differed entirely from her own,
the Rumsien. In reply to my eager request to speak a word or two
of the language she said that if I would give her time to think she
was certain of her ability to do so, as in early life she had mingled
much with the tribe, her father having married an Esselen women.
Believing I had found the long-desired clew I repeated the Esselen
numerals as given by Galiano and she at once recognized the words
for one and three. As the result of much hard thinking for several
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] A NEW LINGUISTIC FAMILY. 49
dayS| she succeeded, with the help of a second old woman, in re-
calling over 100 words and some 50 short phrases of the language —
a priceless boon to the linguistic student. Though their study is
not yet completed they have served to dispel any doubt as to the
distinctness of the stock they represent.
Guided by the directions of old Eulalia, I subsequently visited the
Salinas Valley to the south, in search of two women who had mar-
ried Mexicans and who she said were of Esselen blood. The mar-
riage of Mexicans with Indians is usually a very informal sort of
marriage, and the tie is usually dissolved on short notice at the
option of one or both parties. Accordingly my endeavor to dis-
cover these women by hunting up their respective husbands proved
a wild-goose chase indeed. The Mexican husband was not hard to
find, and from him I could always learn the name and whereabouts
of his successor, only to discover that the wife had migrated to
another settlement or taken up her abode in some distant cafion.
After much search I found both women, but alas for my hopes,
neither remembered a word of their own language. At least so they
said and I was compelled reluctantly to believe them. Both claimed
to have lived with the Rumsien tribe so long as to have forgotten
their own tongue.
However, my search was not entirely unrewarded, for living in
the same house with one of them was an aged and blind Indian who
also spoke the Rumsien tongue, but who recalled a few words of
Esselen and who verified quite a number of those given me by the
Monterey woman. In addition he gave some valuable facts as to
the habitat of the tribe. He also told me that five years before an
Esselen man lived near the adjoining town of Cayucas who really
spoke the language, not merely a few words of it, but a sufficient
number to converse. He was the last one who did so, so far as he
knew. This Esselen went south towards Santa Barbara and had not
been heard of since. As I myself was in Santa Barbara in 1884 and
made most careful inquiry as to all the Indians of that vicinity — and
there are very few of them — it is only too probable that this, the
last survivor of the Esselen people who spoke his own language has
gone the way of the rest. As the result, therefore, of my investiga-
tions I was able to collect no words and 68 phrases and sentences
of this almost extinct language. Singularly enough these were
obtained from the lips of an alien people — a sad commentary upon
the fate that has overtaken some of the American tribes.
7
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50 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Omaha Religious Practices. — At the meeting of the Society
November 5, 1889, Mr. J. Owen Dorsey read an important paper
on the above subject.
Mr. Dorsey began with an account of the Omaha invocation to
the sun, and gave a free translation of the usual formula employed.
Next came a description of trapping practices. Tobacco was pre-
sented and prayers were made to the game, trap, medicine or charm,
pack-strap, chief tent-pole, etc., each object thus addressed being
personified.
The Omahas believed in different gods or mysterious powers be-
fore they learned of our Supreme God, the God of monotheism.
This is in accord with some of the statements of the late S. R.
Riggs concerning the Dakotas, and it agrees with what Mr. Dorsey
had learned from the Ponkas in i872-'73.
The concluding part of the paper treated of personal mystery
decorations, and was illustrated by original sketches painted by an
Omaha. Some of these decorations were worn on garments, others
appeared on tents. The use of such decorations was restricted to
members of the different orders of shamans.
This paper will be published in full in the 8th Annual Report of
the Bureau of Ethnology.
H. W. Henshaw.
Eskimo or Indian ? — At the meeting of the Swedish Anthropo-
logical and Geographical Society on October 10, 1888, a paper was
read by E. Dahlgren on recent investigations in regard to the voy-
ages of the old Norsemen to Vinland. The paper was chiefly a
resume of Professor Storm's **Studier over Vinlandsreiserne, Vin-
lands Geografi og Ethnografi."
To Professor Storm's opinion, quoted by the speaker, that the
** Skralings " met by the Norsemen in America were not Eskimo but
Indians (Micmacs and Beothuks), Baron Nordenskiold replied that
he was convinced from his personal acquaintance with Eskimo, as
well as from a comprehensive study of the older Arctic literature,
that the *' Skralings " could be nothing but Eskimo. (Yfmr, v. 18,
pp. xvii-xix.)
John Murdoch.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] THE THUNDER-BIRD. 51
THB THUNDBR-BIRD AMONGST THB ALGONKINB.
BY A. F. CHAMBERLAIN.
The interesting article of Rev. Myron Eels in Vol. ii, pp. 329-336,
has suggested a brief discussion of the same subject with regard to
the tribes of Algonkian stock amongst which the belief in the thun-
der-bird appears to be very wide-spread. It is found with the Crees
of the Canadian Northwest and amongst some of the tribes of Mic-
mac lineage dwelling near the coast of the Atlantic, on the shores
of Hudson's Bay, and in the States on the southern banks of Lake
Superior. The investigation of this peculiar belief must therefore
cover the whole Algonkian region.
The Crees believe that certain divine birds cause the lightning by
the flashings of their eyes, and with their wings make the noise of
thunder. The thunderbolts are the ** invisible and flaming arrows
shot by these birds." Hind* speaks of the Plain Indians of the
Northwest as "anxious and timid during the roll of thunder, invok-
ing the Great Bird by whose flapping wings they suppose it to be
produced, or crouching from the blink of his all-penetrating eye,
which they allege is the lightning's flash." Cognate is the belief of
the Blackfeet that winds are caused by the flapping of the wings of
a great bird in the mountains.'
Among the Algonkian tribes of the Lake Superior region the same,
or similar, beliefs are current. Rev. John McLean* informs us that
the Pottowattamies look on one of the high mountain peaks at Thun-
der Bay as the abode of the thunder, and that at one time a nest
containing the young thunder-birds was there discovered by them.
From Rev. E. F. Wilson* we learn that the Ottawas believed the
thunder was "a great bird which flapped its wings on high over the
' Lacombe, Diet, dc la Langue dcs Cris (1874), pp. 575, 262. The thunder-
bird is C9\\td piyesis — f. e., "bird'* — identical with Ojebway binisif Mississagua
pinesi, IWxnovi pineuseH, OtX&wtL pindst, evidently a common Algonkian word for
"bird."
« Narrative of Canad. Explor. Exped. of 1857, etc (i860), ii, p. 144.
* McLean. The Indians, their Manners and Customs (1889), p. 38.
*Op. cit., p. 182.
*Our Forest Children. N. S. No. 1 (July, 1889), p. 5.
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52 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
earth to guard its inhabitants and to prevent those evil monsters hid-
den in the bowels of the earth from coming forth to injure them."
The existence of the thunder-bird tradition among the Ojebways
of the northern shore of Lake Superior has been confirmed to the writer
by information from Rev. Allen Salt, a Missidsagua Indian, who has
frequently visited that region. Regarding the Ojebways (Chippe-
ways), Rev. Peter Jones^ says " they consider the thunder to be a
god in the shape of a great eagle that feeds upon serpents, which it
takes from under the earth." Jones also relates (Op. cit., p. 86) the
story of an Indian who visited the nest of a thunder-bird om a high
mountain. He saw bones of serpents scattered about, and noticed
that ** the bark of the young trees had been peeled off by the young
thunders trying their arrows before going abroad to hunt serpents.'*
At another time a party of Indians found a nest on the plains and
put the young thunder-birds to death, after blinding them with their
arrows (which, however, were shattered to pieces). All but one of
the Indians were killed by the old birds on their return. The Ojeb-
ways believed that the home of the thunder-bird was on the top of
a high mountain in the West, where it lays jts eggs and hatches its
young like an eagle. From time to time it sets forth into different
parts of the earth to search for serpents, which form its food. When
they saw a thunderbolt strike a tree these Indians believed that the
thunder '* had shot its fiery arrows at a serpent and caught it up in
the twinkling of an eye." This belief is confirmed by the evidence
of the early Jesuit missionary, P^re Buteux*, who relates it in very
similar terms of the Algonkins of the north shore of the St. Law-
rence in 1637. The thunder-bird is also known to the Ojebways of
Red Lake, Minnesota, and figures in their pictographic records.*
While on a visit to the Mississaguas of Scugog, Ontario, in Au-
gust, 1888, the writer was told by an aged woman of that tribe the
following as the ancient belief of her people : " The thunder was
caused by the flapping of the wings of the great thunder-bird that
lived up in the sky, and the lightning was caused by the flashings of
its eyes." A great storm of thunder and lightning was explained
thus : " The young birds up there in the sky, they are so glad, they
fly all about and make a great deal of thunder and lightning ; like
all young people, they are very restless." Not far from the village
* History of the Ojcbway Indians (1861), p. 8$.
•Relations des J6suites, Ann^e 1687, P* 53- See also Brinton, Myths of the
New World (1876), p. 118.
* Dr. W. J. Hoflfinann, Amer. Anthropologist, i, 225.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] THE THUNDER-BIRD. . 53
of Scugog is buried a Mississagua chief, who just before he died called
out that " I die ! the thunders are coming !'*
Amongst the Mississaguas and Ojebways, Indians were very often
named after the "thunders.** At Scugog one of the sons of
NawlgishkOke (sun in the center of the sky) was named Head
Thunder, while another Indian was called Osawanimlkl (Yellow
Thunder). When the Rev. Peter Jones was named, the appellation
conferred upon him was Kdkiw&kwon&bl (sacred waving-feathers),
and his tutelary deity was the thunder. " He was given a war-club
and a bunch of eagle-feathers, symbolical t>f the might and swiftness
of the eagle-god of thunder.*' ^
Among the Passamaquoddy Indians the thunder-birds appear as
men. Leland' has recorded a legend of this tribe of a man who was
whirled up into the abode of the thunders and who told what
he had there seen. The "thunders.** were very like human be-
ings, used bows and arrows, and had wings which could be re-
moved or put on as occasion demanded. "The thunder is the
sound of the wings of the men who fly above. The lightning we
see is the fire and smoke of their pipes.** These thunder-beings are
always "trying to kill a big bird in the south.** Here a recol-
lection of the thunder-bird of other Algonkian people would seem
to be present. Other " thunder stories *' are given by Leland. Ac-
cording to another* legend, the giant thunder-spirits, with eye-
brows of stone and cheeks like rocks, dwell in Mount Katahdin.
According to another Passamaquoddy legend,* Badawk, the thun-
der, and Psawk'tankapic, the lightning, are brother and sister, whilst
the distant rumbling before the thunder-crash is made by the child
of Badawky to whom his grandfather had fastened wings. This
child was the offspring of Badawk and an Indian woman.
The Passamaquoddies also believe that the wind is caused by the
motions of the wings of " a great bird called by them Wochowsen
or Wuchowsen, meaning Wind-Blow or the Wind-Blower, who lives
far to the north and sits upon a great rock at the end of the sky.**'
This resembles the belief of the Blackfeet, noticed above.
Leland thinks* that this "Wind-Blower is, as he appears in the
Passamaquoddy tale, far more like the same bird of the Norsemen
^ Joum. of Amer. Folk-lore, i, 152.
* Leland. Algonquin Legends of New' England (1885), pp. 263-266.
»Op. cit., p. 261. *0p. cit., p. 267. *0p. cit., p. III.
*0p. cit., p. 113. A similar account of Passamaquoddy beliefs is given in
Joum. of Amer. Folk-Lore, ii, 230.
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54 ^ THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
than the grotesque thunder-bird of the Western tribes. * * He seems
inclined to explain many of the incidents in the " thunder stories **
from Eskimo and from Norse mythology.
It may be, however, that the "wind-blower" and the ** thunder-
giants ' * are simply the " wind-bird * ' and the '* thunder-birds ' * of the
Western Algonkian tribes modified to suit circumstance and lo-
cality.
This view seems to be confirmed by the statement of Dr. F. V.
Hayden* respecting the Crees: "Indeed, these Indians do not
seem to fear any natural phenomena except thunder, which is sup-
posed to be the screaming and flapping of the wings of a large bird,
which they represent on their lodges as a great eagle. Wind is sup-
posed to be produced by its flying, and flashes of lightning are
caused by the light of the sun reflected from its white and golden
plumage, and when strokes of lightning are felt they are thunder-
stones cast down. by this bird. All storms, tornadoes, etc., are
caused by its wrath, and fair winds, calm and fine weather are re-
garded as tokens of its good humor.'* Here the wind-bird and the
thunder-bird are regarded as one, and, as with the Ojebways, the
bird takes on the form of an eagle in pictography, sculpture, and
ornament. On the whole, the Algonkian beliefs respecting thunder
seem more akin to those of the Siouan than of any other Indian
peoples. With the Tetons the snake appears as the enemy of the
thunder. Rev. J. Owen Dorsey' thus describes the Teton thunder-
ers : ** Some of these ancient people still dwell in the clouds. They
have large, curved beaks, resembling bison humps ; their voices are
loud, they do not open their eyes wide except when they make light-
ning, and they have wings. They can kill various mysterious beings,
as well as human beings. Their ancient foes were the giant rattle-
snakes and the Un-kche-ghi-la or water monsters, whose bones are
now found in the bluffs of Nebraska and Dakota.'* In the Omaha
and Ponka myths thunder-men and thunder-birds appear, and the
story of a visit to the nest of the thunder-bird is related.'
A close and detailed comparison of Siouan and Algonkian thun-
der stories and folk-lore would be of great interest and value, and
might perhaps shed some light upon the relations of these two great
peoples in the past.
* Transactions of Amer. Philos. So<r., vol. xii (N. S.), p. 245.
* Journal of Amer. Folk- Lore, ii, 135, 136. Compare the Onondaga tale of
the serpent and the thunderers, ib., i, 46.
' Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, in Joum. of American Folk-Lore, i, 75-77.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] VESPER HOURS OP THi" STOK^ TqE.* " \ fl5
VESPER HOURS OF THE STONE AQE.
BY JOHN G. BOURKE.
Although it is scarcely twenty-one years since I first crossed the
Missouri river and began ray acquaintance with the then wild tribes
which roamed the valleys of its great tributaries and those of the
Rio Grande, the Gila, and the Colorado, the interval has been ex-
tended enough to see them all not merely subjected to a condition
of peace, but in most instances notably advanced in the path of
civilization, their children trained in the white man's ways, and all
traces of earlier modes of life fast fading into the haze of tradition.
It may, therefore, not be wholly without interest for an actual
observer to describe, in a few words, some of the peculiar features of
the closing hours of the Stone Age.
Weapons.
Most of the tribes herein considered were, to an insignificant
degree, armed with muskets and rifles of old patterns, and occa-
sionally with revolvers ; but in both war and the chase they were
mainly dependent upon weapons of their own manufacture.
Lances, arrows, and clubs were their principal offensive weapons.
Stone scalping-knives of the broad, leaf-shaped pattern were still
worn suspended from the neck.
Such fire-arms as had been obtained were invariably deprived of
the iron butt-plate and one of the bands, and had the stocks scraped
down in order to secure a minimum of weight.
Among the southwestern tribes the stocks were nearly always fan-
tastically ornamented with brass-headed nails, and, when procurable,
with the sacred green chalchihuitl^ the gun being looked upon as
" medicine." In this connection it may be well to observe that the
Apaches of Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora were among the first
people in the world to reload the copper cartridge, which was done
in a crude and laborious but efficient way by boring a hole in the
base of the cylinder, inserting the old-fashioned percussion cap, and
then refilling with powder.
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56 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. ' [Vol. III.
The Apache never foiled to provide himself with two willow
shoots, thirty inches long and half an inch in diameter. These were
hardened in hot ashes and then peeled. When shooting, the Apache
would hold these sticks in his left hand, criss-cross, and make a rest
for his fire-arm. This custom undoubtedly can be traced back t©
the first appearance of the Spanish arquebuse, which was always fired
from such a rest.
Spears, — The lance was made of a staff selected from a suitable
shoot of the mesca/ (centuxy plant) or the amo/e (soap-weed), ten to
twelve feet long. This was tipped with a flint barb, two or three
inches in length by an inch in breadth, sometimes with serrated,
sometimes with plain edges, fastened to the staff with sinew and gum.
An improvement upon this was made by inserting an old cavalry
sabre into the same kind of a shaft and fixing it in place by drawing
over it and allowing to dry the sexual organ of the domestic bull.
The penetrative power of the lance was very marked ; the young
warriors constantly practiced with them, using the vertical giant
cactus as a target.
Constant practice in the athletic game of mushka — which was
practically a feat in lance-throwing, allied to the chunke found under
various forms in so many parts of the American continent — ^added
strength and dexterity to the arms of the Apache warriors. I have
known them to pierce a human victim through the body at one
thrust, and to transfix a saguara^ or giant cactus, when advancing
toward it on a run, from a point thirty to forty paces distant.
Arrows, — The stone tips of the Apache arrows comprehended all
the forms known to archaeologists : tongue and diamond shaped,
straight or curved edges, serrated and non-serrated, with and with-
out tangs. The Apache arrow, it should be stated, was composed
of three parts : the reed, the stem, and the barb ; the last affixed to
the stem and the stem inserted into the reed, and both firmly held in
place by ligatures of sinew. The stem was made of a hard wood
called kiong, the shaft of the carrizo or kloki. The use of sinew
for securing the barb to the stem was believed to be based upon the
fact that after the arrow had entered the body the warm blood flow-
ing from the wound would soften and loosen the sinew, disengage
the point, and increase the discomfort, pain, and danger of the
victim.
Arrows intended simply for the killing of birds or small game
were not always barbed, but were generally provided with a cross-
piece about two inches below the tip.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] VESPER HOURS OF THE STONE AGE. 57
Bows, — The bow was made almost always of the tough, elastic
mountain mulberry, called, par excellence, iltin or bow-wood.
Occasionally, the cedar was employed, but bows of horn, such as
were to be seen among the Crows and other tribes of the Yellowstone
region, were not to be found among the Apaches and, their neigh-
bors in Arizona.
The elasticity of the fiber was increased by liberal applications of
bear or deer fat, and on rare occasions sinew was glued to the back
. for the same purpose.
The rule laid down by the Apaches for making their bows and
arrows was the following : The length of the bow, or rather of the
string, should be eight times the double span from thumb to little
finger of the warrior using it. The curvature of the bow was de-
termined almost entirely by individual strength or caprice. The
shaft should equal in length the distance from the owner's armpit to
the extremity of his thumbnail, measured on the inner side of his
extended arm. The stem should project beyond the reed to a dis-
tance equal to the span covered by the thumb and index finger ; this
measurement included the barb, when made of sheet-iron. The iron
barb itself should be as long as the thumb, from the end to the
largest joint.
Stone arrow-heads were made preferably of obsidian {dolguint),
next of chalcedony, lastly of pieces of beer bottles, but the process
of manufacture was in each case the same, and consisted in chipping
small fragments from the edges of suitable pieces of material, the
chipping implement being a portion of hardened deer or elk horn,
held in the right hand, the silicious stone being held in the left over
a flap of buckskin to protect the fingers. Four or even five arrows
could be discharged with a rapidity equal to or even greater than
that of the firing of the same number of shots from the old-fashioned
revolver.
I made it my business to determine exactly how many minutes
were requisite for making a serviceable arrow-head. I singled out
an Apache at random and stipulated that he should employ no tools
of iron, but allowed him to gather from the ground such pieces of
chalcedony as he pleased. He made a number of barbs, the time
as recorded in my note-book being five, six, seven, and eight
minutes. An expert would have completed the barbs in less time ;
but the problem was to determine how long it would take Apache
Indians, whose village had been captured and destroyed by troops,
8
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58 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
to provide themselves anew with weapons which would render them
a menace to the scattered settlements of the frontier.
A good lance-head could not be perfected quite so soon. It could
be made in a very short time, but in exactly how many minutes I
am unable to say.
The Apaches have a myth which states that they overcame all the
tribes in their path because the god, To-va-dis-chinni (** The Mist
Rising from the Water*'), placed them in a reed swamp and gave
them pieces of obsidian as tips for their arrows. When read between
the lines this myth relates an important truth : The Apaches did
subdue or drive the other tribes before them on account of having
better arrows, made as described.
Feather ir^, — At the lower end of the shaft were three half feathers
of a hawk, fastened at each end with sinew, and in the direction of
the axis. Each feather was as long as the inner seam of the second
finger. No rule was found for placing the slot of the arrow, and in
the same quiver I have found some in which the slot was in the same
plane with the barb and in others perpendicular to it. These rules
of measurement apply only to this particular class of arrows.
I am able, from my own recollection, to supply a number of illus-
trations of the great force with which the arrow was discharged,
although a person for the first time observing an arrow coming
towards him would be surprised at its apparent lethargy. In the
summer of 187 1 I was riding by the side of General Crook, on the
summit of the elevated plateau known as the Mogollon Mountains,
in Arizona. We were a short distance ahead of a large column of
cavalry, and our immediate party was quite small. We ran into an
Apache ambuscade ; a number of arrows were discharged, two of
them piercing pine trees to a depth of at least six inches. On
another occasion a pine door, three-eighths of an inch thick, was
penetrated. In July, 1870, a friend of mine, M. T. Kennedy, was
mortally wounded by an Apache arrow which pierced his chest.
The autopsy disclosed the fact that the arrow had no head.
The Apaches poisoned their arrows by rolling the stem in deer
liver which an enraged rattlesnake had been made to bite. Their
efficacy was more imaginary than real, because I have seen dogs,
pigs, birds, horses, mules, and human beings wounded by such
poisoned arrows and canndt recall the slightest increased danger or
even the slightest additional inflammation from wounds made by
them.
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Jan. 1890.] VESPER HOURS OP THE STONE AGE. 59
From their tenderest years Apache youth were trained with bow
and arrow as with the larice, and, as a consequence, they attained
a marvelous precision and rapidity in their use.
S/ings. — In the use of the sling the Apaches were inferior to the
Yumas, the reason being that the Yumas lived in the Colorado bot-
tom which is filled with inexhaustible quantities of smooth, round,
water-worn pebbles, admirably adapted for missiles.
The Apache were also expert in throwing stones, and often killed
quail and turkeys with pebbles.
War-clubs. — The war-club of the Apache was an admirable
weapon : a stone of suitable size and shape was sewed up in a cow's
tail ; then a space of four inches was left in the tail, and lastly, a
round stick was sewed in to give strength and rigidity and to serve
as a handle. The hair was left pendant, as it kejJt the hand from
losing its hold when covered with human blood.
There was a radical difference between the Apache type of war-
club and that of the macan of the Pimas, Maricopas, Yumas,
Chemahuevis, Cocopahs, Opatas, and others. These macanes, or
"potato-mashers," as the soldiers used to call them, are well de-
scribed by their nickname. They were made, ordinarily, of the
hard and close-grained wood of the mesquite and were a very effec-
tive weapon at close quarters.
By all these tribes the war-club was used in the same manner.
Having located a rancheria, or village, of their enemies, they would
surround it at night and when light first appeared in the east would
raise a yell, shrill and unmistakable in its blood-curdling significance.
The terror-stricken foe, rushing out pell-mell from their ii^xXjacales
were obliged to go down on their hands and knees to get out of the
low openings. Crouched in this defenseless position, they would
hardly have protruded their heads, when crack ! would come the *
macan or war-club of the blood-thirsty assailants.
The Pimas and Maricopas used to be greatly addicted to plunder-
ing, in which they rivalled the Prussians. Almost the moment a
hostile rancheria was attacked, pillaging began.
Blow-gun.— \viQ^\xy was made among the Apaches in regard to
another peculiar implement of war, the blow-gun of the tribes of the
Orinoco and Essequibo, called '' cerhatana '' by the first Spanish
explorers. It is not unlikely that the Apaches were once familiar
with some form of the blow-gun, because their children occasionally
make use of a toy constructed on the same principle; but nothing
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60 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
definite on this head could be extracted from them. The blow-gun
is still in use among the Cherokees of the mountains of North Caro-
lina, from whom I obtained one last summer.
Boomerang. — By many, if not all the tribes surrounding the
Apaches, the boomerang has been used from time immemorial in
hunting the jack-rabbit and the field-rat. The Apache secures these
toothsome viands by other means, and has no use for the boom-
erang. A form of the boomerang, studded with cruel teeth of
obsidian, has been described by the early Spanish writers under the
name of maquahuitl. It is said to have been a formidable war im-
plement of the tribes of Anahuac and of those living near the Rio
Grande, who could cut off a man's head with it. Not the slightest
knowledge of this weapon exists among the Apaches of our day, and
there are no references to it in their traditions or myths. But I
heard something of a former use of the maquahuitl among the Rio
Grande pueblos, and was assured by an old Indian, of Taos, New
Mexico, that there was in that town at the time of my visit a weapon
of this description, but the assertion was not verified. This old
Indian insisted that a man's head could be cut off with this weapon,
unconsciously corroborating the old Spanish story. Some of the
bands of Siouan stock, on the Upper Missouri, retained a modifica-
tion of the maquahuitl until within very recent times. It was a sort
of tomahawk with long, sharp teeth of steel.
Shields.
Shields, made of the hide of the buffalo's neck, were still in
general use. A hole was dug in the ground and filled with hot
embers, over which was strewn a layer of earth. A piece of hide of
the requisite size and shape, or rather of a little larger size than was
strictly necessary, because shrinkage had to be allowed for, was next
pegged down to the ground, covering the improvised oven ; then
came another layer of earth and a top layer of hot coals ; the effect
being that the hide was slowly and evenly baked and hardened
without being burned or cracked, and was made capable of resisting
the old-fashioned, round, leaden pistol or musket bullet. When
ornamented with the owner's totem and gaily decked with eagle
feathers which serve the triple purpose of decoration, of frightening
the enemy's horses, and, as the savages thought, of resisting arrows,
the shield was pretty to look upon and a good means of protection
from the missiles of past eras.
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Jan. 1890.] VESPER HOURS OF THE STONE AGE. 61
Mortars, &c.
There were various forms of metates, mortars, and mullers for
grinding acorns, mesquite beans, grass seeds, and paint. Fre-
quently rocks in situ, provided with suitable depressions on their
surface, were so used. Such were the rocks in the Gila Cafion, at
the B2l-bi-tui or Coyote Springs, in Pinal Creek, and elsewhere.
Stone mortars of great size were once to be found in Green Val-
ley, where they formed the mills of the Apaches for grinding acorns
so abundant there. Whether or not these belonged originally to a
people of Pueblo type whom the Apaches displaced, cannot now be
determined. The mortars themselves have all disappeared, having
been carried off by American miners in which to crush auriferous rock.
No time need be spent in describing the stones used in heating
vessels of grass and palmilla — those for heating the ta-a-chi or sweat
baths, or those for cooking mescal — except to say that they were
always selected from silicious rock, which would not split under
high temperatures.
BORING-TOOL.
With an ordinary arrow held between the hands and revolved
vertically the Apaches bored holes in beads. A bead of chalchihuitl
was made in my presence under circumstances of great disadvantage
in a trifle less than twenty-six minutes.
Fire-stick.
In the butt of the lance-staff" a hole was bored and to it was attached
by a string, the essential fire-stick, because matches were as yet
scarcely known. The time required for making fire by this method,
according to my personal observation, ranged from eight to forty-
seven seconds; but the Apaches assured me that they could make it,
under the most favorable circumstances, by running their hands
down the vertical stick only once, which would occupy not quite
two seconds as recorded on the watch. A sprinkling of sand in-
creased friction and hastened the process very much. Two things
are worthy of mention while speaking of this subject : the great
volume of smoke that issued from the point of contact of the sticks
and the total absence of flame.
Amulets.
All the American aborigines used stones as amulets. The most
familiar examples are the arrow and lance heads which had once
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62 THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOaiST. [Vol. III.
killed enemies, or, in the hands of the enemy, had failed to kill the
owner himself. Two or three arrow-heads were appended to the
necklace of human fingers which I secured during a fight with the
Cheyennes of northern Wyoming during the winter of 1876, and
which has since been deposited in the National Museum. The in-
formation obtained in regard to these was always vague and far from
satisfactory, but better fortune attended my investigations into the
nature and uses of the "medicine arrows" worn by the women
among the. Apaches and Pueblos. I have the only one of these ever
given into the keeping of a civilized man. It had been worn for
years by Tze-go-ju-ni ("Pretty Mouth*'), an Apache squaw who
claimed great skill as a midwife, and was in the habit of administer-
ing a pinch of powdered arrow in water in cases of painful gestation
and protracted labor. She explained that whenever lightning hap-
pened to fell a pine tree on the top of a high mountain, the medi-
cine men would hunt around to see if there was any rock at the foot
of the blasted trunk which would yield fire when struck. Such
quartz veins are, of course, common enough, and the only thing
that remains to be done is to shape a piece of the stone into a lance-
head.
One of these " medicine arrows*' was seen by me in the Pueblo
of Acoma, New Mexico, in 1886. The woman who owned it
acknowledged that its uses were identical with those of the same
amulet among the Apaches, but absolutely refused to sell or trade
upon any terms.
Just such amulets, endowed with the same virtues, have been em-
ployed all over the world, in Europe as well as in Asia, in early times
as well as in our own day.
A chapter of references to this topic has been compiled from vari-
ous authorities in the course of my studies and will soon be pub-
ished. I wish only to add, at this time, that the "elf shots'* of
he European peasantry may fairly be placed in the same category.
Garcilasso de la Vega, in his " Commentarios Reales,** made the
curious statement that in Peru, whenever lightning stfuck a tree, the
priests were careful to mark the spot to prevent the people from
approaching and incurring the displeasure of supernatural powers.
In the new light thrown upon this matter by Tze-go-ju-niy it is not
at all unlikely that Garcilasso de la Vega, who was less than thirteen
years of age when he left Peru, was entirely in error, and that what
the priests really intended to do in such cases was to preserve the
stricken trees for the manufacture of amulets and talismans.
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Jan. 1890.] VKSPER HOURS OF THE STONE AGE. 63
The worship of stones was still further developed among the
Apaches. I have been taken by these Indians to one of their sacred
caves in the Ton to Basin in which was a stone phallus ; in another
the medicine men had danced and sung around stalactites and
stalagmites which yielded musical resonance under the sturdy blows
of their clubs. I did not see this dance, but the natives who con-
ducted me to the cave, and whom I found to be perfectly reliable,
showed me the stones and the places where the medicine men stood.
The sacred stone-heaps described in all other parts of the world
are frequent in Arizona where the Apaches call them *' tze-nachie'^
I have prayed, cast stones upon these heaps, spat upon grass, blown
my breath, and made a little backward jump precisely as the Apaches
instructed me to do ; but as this article has already exceeded the
limits originally intended, and as it is trenching upon the more
strictly religious side of Apache life, I will reserve further informa-
tion for treatment under that head.
The Tonocotes of South America. — One of the most numer-
ous nations of Indians in the Tucuman region of Spanish South
America were the so-called Tonocotes or Toconote tribes, mainly to
be found near the upper parts of the rivers Salado and Vermepo.
In some extraordinary manner their nation and their language
seemed to have slipped out of the memory of all concerned until
about the middle of last century Father Machoni, of the Society of
Jesus, wrote his curious work on the so-called Lule and Tonocote
language. Hervas, in his famous Catdiogs de ies LenguaSy has ques-
tioned the correctness of the hypothesis that Machoni's Tonocote
represents the Tonocote ot the early Missionary Fathers, &c., and
it seems that Jolis, in his book on the Chaco, expressed the same
opinion, and there the matter has pretty well rested until the present
day. Late investigations, however, seem to point in another direc-
tion and confirm Hervas* and Jolis' doubts.
Machoni certainly does not say his dialect is Tonocote, he only
mentions the fact that these Indians left Tucuman and went to the-
far north, and as he had discovered these strange Indians speaking
a language very different from that of the surrounding Chaco nations,
he allowed his readers to infer that it must be Lule-Tonocote. So
far no so-called Lule-Tonocote grammars or vocabularies have turned
up, and it is evident they had already been lost even before
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64 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Machoni's time, and so he started or rather allowed others to start
the hypothesis that an unknown lost language must coincide with an
unknown found language.
I have now been able to ascertain that the Tonocotes must have
been Mataco Indians, tribes which still swarm in all the upper region
of the Vermepo and Pilcomayo rivers, and that the original Lule
tribes were so called by the Matacos because they found them
occupying the country when they immigrated into it. Lule is a
Mataco combined word meaning — the inhabitants. Lules were the
hill-tribes of the Anconquija range and spoke Cacan, a language in
process of being restored to the knowledge of South American
philologists. Matacos, like all the Chaco dialects of the Abipon
type, use prefixed particles mainly, Machoni's Lules and Tonocotes
suffix them, so that the two groups belong to different families.
The above remarks are a summary of an essay I am preparing on
the ethnology of the Argentine Republic, or rather of the basin of
the River Plate. Hervas and Machoni's books are easily obtained
and any one interesting himself in the subject can read up what
those authors have to say about Lule-Tonocotes. It is very possible
that Machoni's Lule-Tonocotes, together with the Vilela and
Chulupl or Chunupl tribes, may be a remnant of the older race
which occupied the country at the time of the great Caribic invasion
some 2000 years ago.
Hoping you may find the above of some interest, I remain very
truly yours,
Sam'l a. Lafone Quevede.
Buenos Ayres, October 2p, i88g.
Arrow-Head Making. — In Ymer, the journal of the Swedish
Anthropological and Geographical Society of Stockholm (v. i8,
1888, pp. I, II), are notes on ethnographic observations made dur-
ing a passage through the Straits of Magellan on the Swedish frigate
Vanadis, by Dr. Hj. Stolpe.
One of the most interesting things in the article is the description
of the manufacture of arrow-heads of glass obtained from bottles of
European manufacture. ** . . . the bit of glass is wrapped in
the common cloak of guanaco-skin and roughly shaped by biting.
The arrow-head is then finished by flaking with an albatross-bone. * '
John Murdoch.
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Jan. 1890.] FIGHT WITH THE GIANT WITCH. 65
THB FiaHT WITH THE aiANT WITCH.*
BY GARRICK MALLERY.
This Abnaki myth or folk-tale was communicated to me by Mrs.
W. Wallace Brown, of Calais, Maine, by whom and her husband
(who for a number of years was superintendent of the Passamaquoddy
branch of the Abnaki at its reservation) it was translated. They
gave to me many other mythic tales of the tribe which, like this one,
are very different in spirit from those published in Mr. Charles J.
Leland's work entitled ''Algonquin Legends," although that work
deals exclusively with the Abnaki, and the Micmacs, their next
neighbors and congeners. As these tribes together form but a small
part of the Algonquin linguistic family, the title of the work, " Al-
gonquin Legends,'* is much too comprehensive.
After two field-seasons spent among the two tribes mentioned, it
was apparent to me that a full and unselected collection of their
myths and tales would not exhibit the peculiarly harsh and violent
character assigned to them by Mr. Leland, which peculiarity is ex-
plained by him on a theory of Scandinavian influence. The facts
do not require any such explanation. The myths of those tribes
are similar in their essential character, and indeed in many of their
details, to those of other bodies of Indians throughout the northern
and inland parts of the United States between whom and the Scan-
dinavians contact has never been suggested. It is also a fact that
the Abnaki and Micmac are now, and have been during historic
times, more gentle than most of the Indian tribes.
In the present story the active work of poohegans or attendant
daimons, translated as "guardian spirits,*' will be noticed, and
their combats. They were generally animals, more properly the
archetypes or ultimate progenitors of the particular animals. The
one poohegan, whose name is, perhaps with too great metaphysi-
cal signification, translated "Thought," may refer to the crude
idea of spiritual communication at a distance, which was common
among the Indians and for which modem mystics have several terms.
*Read before the Society.
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66 THK AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The information afforded by visions in dreams also appears. The
word translated as ** Fairy " is probably applicable to one of the
"little people," which supernatural race is often the subject of
western as of eastern story.
The daimon called " Disease '* affords an illustration of the com-
mon Indian doctrine that all diseases were unnatural — that is, super-
natural, and were the work of malign beings.
A PASSAMAQUODDY MYTH.
Many, many, long years ago, there dwelt in a large cave in the
interior of a great mountain an old man who was a Keewauk-M*-
telolen or Giant Witch.
Near the mountain was a large Indian village the chief of which
was named Hass-ag-wauk, the Striped Squirrel. Every few days
some of the chief's best warriors mysteriously disappeared from the
tribe. Hass-ag-wauk soon became convinced that they had been
killed by the Giant Witch and he called a council of all the noted
witches who possessed the greatest power. They gathered together
in a new strong wigwam made for that purpose. There were ten of
them in all, named Quar-beet, the Beaver ; Moosque, the Wood-
worm ; Quag-sis, the Fox ; K'cheattosis, the Serpent ; Eag-winn,
the Loon ; Cosque, the Crane ; Moo-in, the Bear ; Lox, the Devil ;
K'che-pelogan, the Eagle ; Wabb-tek, the Wild-goose.
The great chief Hass-ag-wauk addressed the witches and told them
that he hoped that they might be able to conquer the Giant Witch,
and that if possible it must be done at once or his tribe would be
exterminated. The witches resolved that they would commence
the battle the next night and use their greatest powers to kill the
Giant Witch. Now the Giant Witch could foretell all his troubles
by his dreams, and on that very night he dreamed of all the plans
which the witches contemplated for his destruction. Now all In-
dian witches have poohegans or guardian spirits. The Giant Witch
sent one his poohegans, little Al-umusett or the Humming-bird, to
the Chief Hass-ag-wauk telling him that it would not be fair to send
ten to fight one, but that if he would send one witch at a time he
would be pleased to meet them. The chief sent word in return
that the witches would meet him in battle one at time. The next
night the witches met as appointed, as soon as the sun slept, and
it was agreed that the Beaver should fight first. Now the Beaver
had So-ga-lum or Rain for his poohegan and he caused a great
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Jan. 1890.] FIGHT WITH THE GIANT WITCH. 67
flood to come and fill up the cave where the Giant Witch lived and
by this means hoped to drown him. But the Giant Witch had the
power to change himself into a Sequapp Squtten or Lamper Eel and
held fast on to the side of his cave and thus escaped. The Beaver,
thinking that the Giant Witch was probably drowned, swam down
into the cave and got caught in a k*pagu-teehegan or beaver-trap
which the Giant Witch had purposely set for him. Thus the Beaver
is conquered. The next witch to fight is Moosque, the Wood-
worm, whose poohegan is Fire. The Wood-worm told Fire that he
would bore a hole down into the cave that night and that on the next
night he wanted Fire to go down into the hole and by this means
burn the Giant Witch. The Wood -worm went to work and with
his sharp head and by whirling himself around like a screw soon
made a deep hole in the side of the mountain, but the Giant Witch
knew what was going on and he sent his poohegan, Humming-bird,
with a piece of cheequaqu-seque, punk, and put a plug in the hole
so tight that the Wood-worm could not get back and the next night
when Fire went into the hole he set fire to the punk and burnt up
Moosque, the Wood-worm, and thus perished the second witch.
The next witch to fight was K*cheattosis, the Serpent. He had
Hummewess, the Bee, for his poohegan. The Bee called all of
the bees together and they went into the cave and swarmed all over
the Giant Witch, which made him roar with pain; but he sent the
Humming-bird and collected a lot of birch bark and set it on fire
which made a dense smoke and stifled all the bees. After waiting
some time the witch, Serpent, went into the cave to see if the bees
had killed the Giant Witch, but he got caught in a dead-fall which
the Giant Witch had prepared for him. The chief Hass-ag-wauk was
now almost discouraged at having lost three of his best witches
without accomplishing anything ; but seven more remained. The
next witch to fight was Quagsis, the Fox. His poohegan was K*see-
no-ka. Disease, and he sent him to afflict the Giant Witch with all
kinds of sickness and he was soon covered with sores and boils and
every part of his body was filled with aches and pains, but he sent
his poohegan, Humming-bird, to Quilip-hoit, the god of medicine,
who gave him the plant Kee-ka)nvee-N*bisoon, which as soon as it was
administered to the Giant Witch immediately cured him of all his
diseases. The next witch to fight was Eagwin, the Loon, whose
poohegan was T*ka-iou, Cold. In a short time the mountain was
covered with snow and ice and the cave was filled with cold blasts
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68 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
of wind, the frost cracked the trees and broke asunder the great
stones. The Giant Witch suffered terribly, but did not become
discouraged. He tried his magic stone and heated it red hot, but
it was so cold that it had lost its power and could not help him.
Alumusett, the Humming-bird, had both wings frozen and could
not be sent on any more errands ; but one of the Giant Witch's
best poohegans was Lithuswagon or Thought, and he sent him like
a flash to Sou-nessen, the South Wind, to come to his aid. In a short
time the warm South Wind began to blow around the mountain,
and the cold was obliged to disappear from the cave. The next
witch to fight was Cosque, the Crane, whose poohegan was Kee-
wauk, the Giant-with-a-heart-of-ice, who soon went to work with
his big stone hatchet and chopped down all the trees and tore up
the rocks and commenced to cut a large hole into the solid rocks
in the side of the mountain, but the Giant Witch, now for the first
time, let loose his great and terrible dog M'dasmoose, who barked so
loudly and attacked Kee-wauk so fiercely that he was frightened off".
The next witch to fight was Mooin, the Bear, whose poohegan was
Badogiek, Thunder, and Pa-sock-way-tuck, Lightning. Soon a great
thunder-storm took place which shook the whole mountain and a
thunder-bolt split the mouth of the cave in two. The lightning
flashed into the cave and nearly blinded the Giant Witch who was
now terribly frightened for the first time and he cried with pain
for he was badly burned by the lightning ; but the Thunder and
Lightning redoubled their strength and filled the cave with fire.
The Giant Witch was now greatly alarmed and quickly sent the
Humming-bird to summon Haplebemlo, the Great Bull-frog, to
come to his aid. He soon came and spit out his great mouth full
of water which nearly filled the cave and extinguished the fire and
drove off Thunder and Lightning. The next witch to fight was
Lox, the Indian devil. Now Lox was always a coward and when
he learned of the misfortune of the other witches he cut off one of
his big toes and when the great chief Hass-ag-wauk called him to go
fight he made the excuse that he was lame and could not go. The
next witch to fight was K'chee-pe-logan, the Eagle, whose poohegan
was Applaus-um-luessit, the Whirl-wind. When he went to the
cave of the Giant Witch with all his fury and violence and noise
he awoke the Giant Witch who had been asleep and who at once
k'pla-moosooke or lost his breath and was unable to speak, but he
made signs to the Humming-bird to go for Cul-loo the chief of all
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Jan. 1890.] FIGHT WITH THE GIANT WITCH. 69
great birds, but the wind blew with such strength that the Hum-
ming-bird could not get out of the mouth of the cave but was
always driven back again. The Giant Witch now sent his poohegan
Thought, to command Cul-loo to come to his assistance. In a
moment the Great Bird came and made such a great wind with his
wings at the mouth of the cave that the power of the Whirl-wind
was useless. The Chief Hass-ag-wauk now became discouraged as
but one more witch remained to fight and this was Wabb-tek or
Wild Goose, who was a very quiet and clever fellow and never quar-
reled with any one and was not regarded as a powerful warrior.
Now the chief had a dream in which he saw a great giant, who
stood before the mouth of the Giant Witch's cave and was so tall
that he reached from the earth to the sky, and he said that all that
all that was necessary to do to destroy the Giant Witch was to have
some young woman to entice him out of his cave when he would
lose his power and that he, the giant, would then kill him. The
Chief Hass-ag-wauk told his dream to the witch Wabb-tek, Wild-
goose, and ordered him to do as he had been told to do in the
dream. Now the Wild-goose had for his poohegan Mickum-wiss or
a Fairy, who changed himself into a beautiful young woman and
went to the mouth of the cave and got up into a large hemlock tree
and sang a song :
Come to me young man !
Come hear my sweet song !
Come out this beautiful evening —
Come on this beautiful mountain —
Come see the leaves so red !
The Giant Witch soon heard the singing and came to the mouth of
the cave, and was so fascinated by the singing that he came out of
the cave and saw a very beautiful young woman up in the tree who
said to him, '*W*litthodd m'on nachi-pen-equlin w'liketuqu he
moos,'* "Please, kind old man, help me down this tree.'* As soon
as he came near the tree Gloos-cup, the great king of all men,
dodged from behind the tree and threw his stone hatchet at him and
split his head open. Then Gloos-cup addressed the Giant Witch
and told him, *' You have been a wicked bad witch and have de-
stroyed nearly all of the Chief Hass-ag-wauk* s best warriors. Now
speak once more and tell what you have done with the bones of your
victims.'* The Giant Witch replied that in the hollow of that
mountain could be found an immense heap of human bones which
Digitized by VjOOQIC
70 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
was all that remained of what were once the great warriors of Hass-ag-
wauk's tribe. As soon as he was dead Gloos-cup summoned together
all the beasts of the forest and all the birds of the air to come
together and eat the body of the Giant Witch. Then Gloos-cup
ordered the beasts to go into the cave and bring forth the bones of
the dead warriors, which they did ; then told the birds to take each
a bone in their mouths and pile them together at the village of the
Chief Hass-ag-wauk. Then Gloos-cup ordered the Chief to build a
wall of large stones around the heap of bones and cover them with
wood and make equnak'n, the hot bath.
Then Gloos-cup set the wood on fire and commenced to sing his
magic song. Then he ordered more wood to be put on the fire and
water to be poured on the heated stones. Gloos-cup sang louder
and faster imtil his voice skook the whole village and he ordered
the people to close their ears or his voice would kill them. Then
Gloos-cup redoubled his voice and the bones began to move by the
heat and began to sizzle and make a peculiar sound. Then Gloos-
cup sang his resurrection song in a low voice. At last the bones
began to sing with Gloos-cup and he sprinkled on more water and
the bones came together in their natural places and soon became
natural human beings again. The people were amazed at Gloos-
cup' s power and the Chief Hassag-wauk gathered all the neighbor-
ing tribes together and celebrated the great event with the Resurrec-
tion feast which lasted for many days, and the tribe of Chief Hass-ag-
wauk was never troubled by evil witches forever afterwards.
Rig Veda Americana. — Under the above title Dr. Brinton an-
nounces a volume on the sacred songs of the ancient Mexicans. It
will be supplied with a gloss in Nahuatl and be edited with a para-
phrase, notes, and vocabulary by himself. Dr. Brinton considers
these songs the most ancient authentic examples of American litera-
ture in existence. Besides the light they throw upon Mexican
religious thought and mythology they illustrate the archaic form
and sacred locutions of the language. The book will be published
by subscription ; price, I3.
H. W. Henshaw.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] OMAHA CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS. 71
OMAHA CLOTHING AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
BY J. OWEN DORSEY.
The material for this article was collected by me on the Omaha
reservation, in 1 878-' 80, and revised in the summer of 1882, with
the assistance of two Omahas, two Crows, and the late Joseph La
Fltehe.
Garments were usually made by the women, while the men made
their weapons.
Men's Clothing.
Some of the Omaha and Ponka (whose customs resemble those of
the Omaha) have adopted the dress of the white men. The ancient
dress consisted of buffalo robes, breech-cloths, leggings, and mocca-
sins. Shirts were not worn. Blankets have been introduced by
traders and the Indian Bureau. There is no distinction between
the dress of dignitaries and that of the common people. Several
kinds of face and head coverings were used. In cold weather they
used to wear the 7> in-de ha wa-dha-gey a hat made of the black
hair which grows on the face of the buffalo near the chin. This hat
was worn over the head and face. Another protection for the face
and ears was made of the skin of a wild cat. The skin was tanned
and whitened.
Min-gha-san nin-du-dhi'Se wa-dha-ge was a hat made of the
feathers of the brant from the middle of the body to the tail-feathers
inclusive. This hat was worn occasionally by those who went on
the war-path and not at other times.
Ma-shu-pa-gdhan is a cap made of the tail-feathers of eagles. It
extends down the back, nearly to the feet.
Khi'dha wa-dha-ge or Khi-dha dha-ge of the Omaha and Ponka
{Khu-yU'lafi'ge of the Kansa), is a cap made of the entire eagle-skin.
Te-zhin-hin-de wa-dha-ge, a turban made of yarn and beads, is of
modem origin, and is worn for ornament, as in the dances.
Ta-hin wa-gdhaity a head-dress used by the Omaha, Ponka, Iowa,
and Oto, was made of a deer's tail ornamented with peacock's
feathers and the rattles of snakes. This and the " Crow " were re-
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72 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
wards of bravery and were worn during the He-dhu'Shka and scalp
dances. *
Ka-ghe mugdhan ox "Crow." This was made on two parallel
sticks and was covered with porcupine work. On one side hung
the ibe or tail of a crow, while from the other was suspended the
tail of a coyote. Both sticks were fastened to a belt and projected
out from the back of the wearer.
Masks were used by the young men when they entered lodges to
beg. They were made of bladders softened by pulling with the
hands, and they had holes for the mouth, eyes, and nostrils.
Belts were formerly made of any kind of skin procurable, as of the
buffalo, deer, or antelope. Since the advent of the white man,
these Indians have made two other kinds of belts, the ha i-gdha-ze
and the U-zhin-hin-de i-pi-dha-ge. The former is made of strands of
wa-hati or yam, which are interwoven. The latter is made of yarn
in like manner, but with beads strung on as described by Dougherty
in his account of the Omahas.'
**In the manufacture of this common and much admired article
of dress, ten double threads are attached by one end to a small wang
(wahan', J. O. D.) or shreads of leather (j/V), which is firmly
stretched and fixed transversely to the work; each double thread is
placed at such a distance from the adjoining ones as to give room
for the beads. These are then strung on, one on each double
thread. By this operation a transverse row of beads is formed upon
the work parallel to the wang. This being done, the left double
thread is passed to the right, not over and under, but through all
the double threads, parallel to and in contact with the beads, and in
this position occupies the situation of woof or filling ; but its ex-
tremity is continued along on the right side of the work, so as to
resume, in that portion of its length, the character of warp or chain.
Another row of beads is now put on ; after which the next left-hand
double thread is passed through each of the others to the right of
the work, as the previous one had been."
Breech-cloths were made of deer-skin or antelope-skin, but now
a piece of an old blanket is generally used for that purpose.
Robes (wa-/V) were made during the winter, because the winter
skins or me-ha had thick hair. The string for fastening the robe
around the neck was called the in-ke-gdhe-shtah-gay a name now
^See p. 329, " Om. Soc," in 3d Eth. Kept.
« In Long*s Expedition to the Rocky Mts., Vol. I, p. 286-7.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] OMAHA CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS. 73
given to buttons. Robes were worn with the hair out by chiefs and
others on special occasions. These robes were often decorated on
the smooth side with blue, red, and black lines, forming various
designs, some of which referred to past events in the life of the
wearer.
Mittens were made of buffalo hides that had thick hair, but now
some of them are of elk-skin. They were short and rounded a little
at the top. They were worn only by the aged men and women.
Foot Coverings, — Under the moccasins and next to the feet were
the native htn-b/ gd-win-ghe^ made of buffalo hair taken from the
head, or of red grass which had been pulled in the hands till it be-
came soft. This hair or grass was wrapped round and round {jga-
wifi'ghe) the feet previous to putting on the moccasins. Even when
the grass became wet it was still a good covering. Since these
Indans have encountered the white men they have in some cases
adopted the socks and stockings, which they now call hin-be ga-
win-ghe.
Moccasins were called hin-be or han-be. These are distinguished
from those of other tribes by the shape of the sole, the number and
positions of the hin-be ga-she-gdhe or tags on the moccasin heels,
and by the hin-be-di-ha or flap next the ankle, as well as by the
character of the designs of porcupine-work or bead-work on them.
The Ponka used to wear moccasins like those of the Omaha, but
recently they have adopted the Dakota styles. An Omaha hin-be-
di-ha is rounded at the ends next the toes and is about two and a
half inches wide, extending nearly down to the sole of the moccasin.
A Ponka hin-be-di-ha is angular at the ends next the toes and is not
over one inch and a half in width. The flaps are turned up and
tied around the ankles in bad weather. The Omaha omit the heel
tags whenever they desire. Moccasins are generally made in the
summer, as the hides of the buffalo slain during that season have
little hair on them. When the women make the moccasins they
pull off whatever hair there is on the hide, as they also do when they
wish to make leggings or skins for tents.
The trail of an Indian has the following peculiarities : First, the
sole of the moccasin by its shape marks the tribe of the wearer, ex-
cept when the style has been borrowed from another tribe ; secondly,
the heel tags by their number and order furnish another criterion
(the Omaha have three, one in the middle and one on each side ;
elsewhere we find two, equidistant from the middle of the heel ;
10 ^
Digitized by VjOOQIC
74 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
another tribe has one in the middle and one on the right ; still
another, one in the middle and one on the left ; some tribes have
but one, and so on) ; thirdly, each tribe has its own style of turning
the toes in walking. This is caused by the Indian mother who,
when the child is in its cradle, ties its feet straight or otherwise
between pieces of wood. Omaha and Ponka walk with the toes
pointing straight ahead. The Dakota turn their toes in a little, and
the Winnebago are exceedingly pigeon-toed. The Pawnee turn
their toes out.
Sometimes over-moccasins were worn. The inner moccasins were
thin, being made of elk or deer skin, but the outer ones were made
of thick buffalo skin and were a few inches higher than the inner
pair.
Leggings were worn by both sexes. When the women made them
out of buffalo skins, they used to remove the hair. They put on
them fringes of deer-skin. The strings for fastening the leggings
to the belt were made of the skin of the elk, deer or buffalo.
Garters were of two kinds : The hi-dha-win dhan were made of
a piece of hide cut lengthwise, or else of interwoven pieces of sinew
on which beads were strung. They were the width of two fingers,
and were wrapped twice around the legs with the ends dangling.
The hi-dha win dan-pa or short garters are as wide as three
fingers. Men wear them if they are proud. They also form part
of- a woman's attire on festive occasions.
Women's Clothing.
In ancient times, the women wore the ha u-na-zhiny the ha
wa-te, the u-tan^ the hin-de, and the wa-in. The ha unazhin or
skin shirt was made of the skin of the elk, deer, or antelope, and
the utan or leggings were of similar material. The ha wate was a
skin dress or skirt, made of elk or deer skin. The wain or robe
was of buffalo hide. The moccasins were plain, without any por-
cupine work.
Since the coming of the pale faces, the Omaha and Ponka women
have made a few changes in their attire, which now consists of a
blanket or shawl, a chemise, a calico sacque, a skirt, and moccasins.
The calico sacque is made with a cape hanging about a foot down
the back. On this account no Ponka man would wear a sailor
jacket in 1872-3, as its square turned-down collar resembled the
woman's cape. Every woman wears a belt, to which is attached a
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] OMAHA CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS. 75
knife-sheath. The belt is worn straight around the waist by the
Omaha women, but .the Dakota women lower it in front, converting
thereby the lower part of the sack into a stomacher, which serves
as a pocket for carrying sundry articles.
Instead of collars, the Omaha and Ponka wore necklaces. Those
worn by men were called, wa-nan-f in. Necklaces of bears' claws
are still used by a few men, and probably formed one of the ancient
styles. There are several other styles, most of which have been in-
troduced by the traders. Among these latter is one kind made of
white shells perforated at the ends, such as are commonly found
among the Dakota.
The woman's necklace in called u-iri ga-zafi-de by the Ponka,
and t^'in ga-zari-de by the Omaha. This necklace is made by
stringing {ga-zan-de) beads on horsehair, which is interwoven, the
beads being arranged in different colors so as to form various
designs, such as birds, arrows, and horses.
There were no pockets made in garments. But receptacles for
articles were formed by fastening the belt around the robe, blanket
or sacque, the belt forming the bottom of the ^^u-H-zhiy^ and the
articles were then put within the garment. The robe or sacque was
allowed to be full, or as white ladies term it, a ''Garibaldi waist."
The Omaha and Ponka had no wigs. The one worn by the
Ponka chief. Standing Bear, prior to 1879, was given to him (^fide
J. La Fl^he) by the Yankton chief. Struck by the Ree, who used
to wear it at councils and dances.
Plumes and eagle feathers when worn in the hair are marks of dis-
tinction for brave men. See the account of the reception of an
infant into the deer gens of the Omaha, pp. 245-6, Om. Soc, in
3d Eth. Rept!
Head-bands were used by the women for keeping the hair out of
their eyes. No man wore one except when he had a headache.
Earrings and pendants. A modem kind is the pe u-ga-shke,
made of pewter. Several of them were worn in each ear.
Another kind is made of a species of white shell, having three
names, "the real beads," *'the real earrings," and "the real neck-
lace," the latter name having been given Ijecause necklaces are
made out of them. I have seen oblong pieces of clam shell about
two inches long so used by the Ponka, who call them ga-shpe u-in,
"ear ornaments split from the edge (of the shell) by hitting."
Nose-rings, — A few Omaha women wear them. When J. La
Fldche was a boy he saw two young men who wore them.
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76 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Breast ornaments, — ^The kind commonly seen is " ni ki-dey' which
is made of shell, and is about four inches in diameter. In the mid-
dle are two small holes, through which is passed the thong by which
it is hung from the neck.
Knife-sheaths are attached to the belt on the left side, and are
worn by men as well as by women. Those of the men are often
decorated with bead-work, and are shorter and narrower than those
of the women. The only ornamentation on the latter consists of
rows of brass nails or tacks, placed on the wide part of the sheath
proper, next the knife blade.
A fire-steel holder was composed of two pieces of skin. Tjie
pointed end of the longer piece was turned over after the fire-steel
was put in, thus forming a cover for the sheath. The short piece
was a square, and was sewed on the square part of the longer piece,
forming a pocket or sheath.
Pomades for the hair. — In former days, the chief pomade con-
sisted of buffalo fat mixed with fragrant grass. They also said that
if one would take the fat of an otter's tail, melt it and mix it with
sweet grass, and then rub the mixture on the head, the growth of
the hair would be promoted.
Soaps were unknown, but they cleansed the hands by washing
them in ashes and water. After eating, the face and hands were
tisually wiped with a wisp of grass. See p. 316, Om. Soc, in 3d
Eth. Rept.
Combs and brushes were unknown \ but they had a good substi-
tute for both in the kha-de mi-ka-he or grass-comb. This was made
of a very stiff grass, gathered in the spring of the year. The grass
is soon knocked down, the twigs are collected, and deer-sinew is
wrapped around them, forming a bush which is about the size and
shape of an ordinary shaving-brush, but much stiffer.
Tweezers or spiral pieces of wire are now used for removing the
beard, mustache, and eyebrows of men. Hair used to be removed
from the sides of the head by running a hot stone very rapidly
along the head. This was done when the hair was worn Osage
fashion.
Mirrors, — A clear stream answered for this purpose, hence the
name, ni u-ki-gdha-sin, **he peeped into the water at himself," now
applied to mirrors.
Perfumes. — Five of these are found among the Omaha and Ponka.
The first is \ht pe-zhi zan-sta or "strong-smelling grass,*' which is
plaited into necklaces and carried about by men as well as by
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] OMAHA CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS. 77
women. This grass has a very pleasant odor, resembling that of
the vanilla bean. The second kind is the i-nu-bdhaH-ki-dhe sa-be,
"the black seeds, which emit a pleasant perfume," columbine
seeds. (?) These seeds are tied up in pieces of calico, etc., which
are worn about the neck. The third is \ht pe-zhi pa or ** bitter
grass." The fourth consists of the small seeds found in the ma-zi
zhu or cedar cones. The fifth is known as the in-tchaH-ga iH-gdhe
e-gafty "what resembles mouse dung." It is a grass seed smaller
than seed wheat, and is found in Iowa, at the head of a stream
which the Omaha call Mi-ka tan or '* Where raccoons abound."
Porcupine-work, — This and fringe {jga-sne-sne) were the only
kinds of dress ornamentation known in ancient days. The art of
putting on porcupine-work was called u-dhi'ske^ because the quills
were put on as closely as possible, making them lie thick together
{u'Ske), The women used to dye some of the quills red, others
black, and some yellow, leaving the rest white. These quills were
put on moccasins, leggins, robes, shirts, pipe-stems, quivers, knife-
sheaths, tobacco-pouches of deer or antelope skin.
Dyes, — Red dye for quills and horse-tails was made thus : Before
frost the women gathered together the sumac berries and laid them
away to dry. They also gathered the roots ' of a fine grass, called
** gdhan-de,^^ which they pounded between two stones, and mixed
with the sumac ; the latter not being pounded. There were two
kinds of black dye. One was made by taking the yellow unburnt
clay from which Indian red was made, mixing it with grease, and
putting it into a kettle, where it was fried till it became black*
Sometimes the former mixture was put into a kettle in which maple
bark had been boiled, and this compound was the other black dye.
Yellow dye was the product of the we-zi-dhe dhin^ which are the
yellow flowers of a fine grass which is a parasite of the zha-kdhda si
(a plant not as tall as the Nebraska sunflower matures in September,
not yet identified). Sometimes these yellow flowers were taken
when the sap was in the grass and placed in a kettle with the quills
to be dyed. The bundle was tied very tightly and laid away for two
or three days. The pressure forced out the sap and this moistened
and dyed the quills at the end of that period ; but when they wished
to dye them very quickly the quills and the flowers were boiled
together in a kettle of water.
Bead-work was not known among these tribes prior to contact
with the white people. It has superseded porcupine- work among
most of the tribes along the lower Missouri river.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
78 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Skin ornamentation. — Tattooing was practiced in the early days.
La Fl^he and Two Crows said that no well-behaved man was ever
tattooed; but I have seen several aged men, among whom was
the chief Two Bears or Yellow Smoke, and Ki-shta-wa-gu, who
were thus marked, one on the fingers and the other on the wrists,
with transverse lines. Tattooing was chiefly practiced on the
daughters of the principal men of the tribe, who could afford to
purchase this great privilege. Such women were marked on the
foreheads, breasts, backs, and wrists. The mark on a woman's
forehead was a round spot, that symbolized the sun, to which the
woman was consecrated by the ceremony. Previous to the cere-
mony some box-elder wood was charred, pounded and moist-
ened. The operator took an instrument consisting of three or
four needles tied to the truncated and flattened end of a stick,
so arranged that the points formed a straight line. With this
he pricked the charcoal into the skin, following the lines of the
figures which had been traced thereon. This tattooing was called
**pe batu^ i. e. making the forehead blue by pricking it. At
present this ceremony of tattooing the women is performed by the
young chief I-shta ba-su-de (son of Yellow Smoke) of the Hafl-ga
gens. Only chiefs can witness the act. The Osage have a similar
custom, but it forms part of the ceremonies of one degree in their
secret order. Instead of one spot on the forehead they make two.
The men often reddened the parting of their wives' hair, as well
as their cheeks, after they had combed their hair for them. In one
of the myths the girl calls on her brothers and grandfather to comb
her hair; and an Iowa legend tells of a similar service. performed
for several days in succession by a husband for his wife. Men used
to paint their faces with Indian red, yellow earth, and burnt earth.
Some Omahas rubbed common clay or mud over their faces in
oblique stripes. Any pattern was made, just as suited the man's
fancy. The face was painted with charcoal in time of war. See
p. 317, Om. Soc, in* 3d Eth. Rept. Among the Osage, each
design had its meaning, referring either to the gens of the man or
else to the animal or other mysterious being whose aid he invoked.
Black earth was used for painting on the buffalo hides in former
days, when the badges of the different gentes were painted on the
principal tents. See pp. 230, 234, 240, et passim^ in Om. Soc, 3d
Eth. Rept. When they wished to paint a hide, instead of a brush,
they used a piece of pumice stone or a dried buffalo bone. The
latter was scraped away till it became very thin.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 189a]
ANTHROPOLOQIC LITBRATUKB.
79
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New York and London, 1889, White
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Folk-lore and legends. Germany.
New York and London, 1889, White
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Folk-lore and legends. Ireland.
New York and London, 1889, White *
& Allen, 192 p. 16®.
Folk-lore and legends. Oriental.
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Letonmeaa (C.) L*6voIution de la
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zone. Paris, 1889, Pnid*homme.
20 p. 4^.
Loret f Victor.) L'^gypte au temps
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Digitized by VjOOQIC
82
THE AMEBICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
Volkann (L.) Die L5sung der so-
cialen Fiage durch die Frau, nebst
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schaft. FUr Aerzte und Geburtshel-
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Bailey (A. W. H.) On an old canoe
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Manchester Lit. & Phil. Soc, 1889,
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On the vitrified cement from an ancient
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5. W.) African development: The
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On the structure and affinities of the
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Baatian (A.) Ueber die priester-
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Ztschr. f. Ethnol., Berl., 1889, xxi,
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I pi. -^— - Onondaga tales. J.
Am. Folk-lore, Bost. & N. Y., 1889,
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272.— Berger (P.) Inscriptions c6-
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ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
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Melungeons. Am. Anthrop., Wash.,
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THE AMERICAN ANTHEOPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
xl, 317. La science de rh£r6-
diti. Rev. scient, Par., 1889, xliv,
1 93- 1 96. ~ Gal ton (F.) and A. A.
Somerville. On the principle and
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Le pavilion de I'oreille au point
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Hammond (W.) The elixir of life.
N. Am. Rev., N. Y., 1880, cxlix,
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Deutsche med. Wchnschr., Leipz.,
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ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
85
Soc. d'anthrop. de Par., 1889, 3. s.,
xi»» 336-374.— -Lehmann (C. F.)
Altbabylonisches Maass und Gewicht
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xxiii, No. 90, 109-12 1.— Lewis (T.
H.) Copper mines worked by the
mound builders. Am. Antiquarian,
Mendon, 111., 1889, xi. 293-296. —
Lombard. Comparaison des trois
sous-espdces humaines entre elles.
Bull. Soc. d'anthrop. de Par., 1889, 3.
s., xii, 411-417.— Lomonaco (A.)
Sulla razze indigene del Brasile. Arch,
per Tantrop., Firenze, 1889, xix, 17-
92.— Lydston (G. F.) The pathog-
eny of vice ; a study in crime,
pauperism, inebriety, and prostitution.
West. M. Reporter, Chicago, 1889, xi,
241.— McGee (W J) An obsidian
implement from pleistocene deposits in
Nevada. Am. Anthrop., Wash., 1889,
ii.301-312.— MaoRitchle(D.) The
Finn-men of Britain. Archseol, Rev.,
Lond., 1889, iv, 107-129.— Mallery
( G. ) Israelite and Indian : a parallel in.
planes of culture. Pop. Sci. M., N.Y.,
1889-90, xxxvi, 52; 193. Also, re-
print, — Marcano(G.) Ethnographie
pricolombienne du Venezuela (region
des Randals de I'Orinoque). Bull.
Soc. d'anthrop. de Par., 1889, 3. s.,
xii, 391-402.— Maika (K. J.) Die
mfthrischen Mammuthj&ger in Pred-
most. Cor.-Bl. d. deuisch. Gesellsch.
f. Anthrop., etc., MUnchen, 1889,
XX, 9-1 1. —Mason (O. T.) The
human beast of burden. Ann. Rep.
Smith. Inst.. 1887, pt. 2, Wash.,
1889. 237-295. Cradles of the
American aborigines. IbiU.y 161-212.
■ An account of the progress in
anthropology in the year 1886. Ibid,,
523-567. — Matthews (W.) The
Inca bone and kindred formations
among the ancient Arizonians. Am.
Anthrop., Wa«*h., 1889, ii, 337-345. —
Meyer (E.) Eine verschollene
Etruskerstadt. Cor.-Bl. d. deutsch.
Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., etc., Mttnchen,
1889, xx, 1-4.— Mies. Ueber die
Verschiedenheiten gleicher Sch&del-
Indices. IHd,, 1888, xix, 131-137.—
Misohnewsky (V.) [Definition of
stature, circumference of breast, and
weight]. Voyenno-san. dielo, St.
Petersb., 1889, ix, 281.— Moffett (C.
R.) In the Moqui country. Overland
Month., San Fran., 1889, xiv, 243-
256. — Moloney. Exhibition of cross-
bows, long-bows, quivers, &c. J. An-
throp. Inst., Lond., 1889-90, xix, 213-
215.— Moore (T. J.) Man and his
development. Times & Reg., N. Y. &
Phila., 1889, XX, 507-512.— Moore-
head (W. K.) Fort Ancient. J.
Cincin. Soc. Nat. Hist.. 1889, xii, 83-
92.— Moreau de Tours. De la
contagion du crime et de sa prophy-
laxie. Ann. d. hyg.. Par., 1889, 3* s.,
xxii, i6i-i68.~Morgaii (J. de).
Note sur I'usage de syst^me pondiral
Assynen dans PArm^nie russe a
r^poque pr^historique. Rev. archil..
Par., 1889, 3. s., xiv, 177-187.— Mor-
ris (J. ) Crime : its physiology and
pathogenesis. How far can medical
men aid in its prevention? Tr. M. &
Chir. Fac. Maryland, Balto., 1889,48-
69.— Morrison (O.) Tsimshian
proverbs. J. Am. Folk-lore, Bost. &
N. Y., 1889, ii, 285.— Morrison (R.
B.) Notes on the formation of pig-
ment in the negro. Med. News,
Phila., 1889. Iv, 393-395.— de Mor-
«llet(G.) Lechien. Bull. Soc. d' an-
throp. de Par., 1889, 3. s., xii, 425-
452.— Murdoch (J. E.) A remark-
able Eskimo harpoon from East Green-
land. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1888,
Wash., 1889, xi, 169-171. — Murray-
Ay nsley (Lady), Various Swiss
legends. Am. Antiquarian. Mendon,
111., 1889, xi, 302-305. -^Naue (J.)
Die silberne Schwertscheide von Guten-
stein(Grossherzogthum Baden). Fest-
schr. z. Begriissung . . . . d. Deutsch. u.
Wien, anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien,
Wien, 1889. 12-18.; aiso, Mitth. d.
Anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien, 1889, n.
F., ix, 1 18-124. —Naville (E.) The
historical results of the excavations at
Bubastis. J. Trans. Victoria Inst. , xxiii.
No. 90, 137-167. — Newberry (J. S.)
A man of Spy, or newly discovered
palaeolithic skeletons from the vicinity of
Liige, Belgium. [Abstr.] Tr. N. Y.
Acad. Sc., 1888-H9, viii, 132-136.—
Ornstein ( B. ) Ein Beitrag zur Verer-
bungsfrage individuell erworbener
Eigensc^flen. Cor.-Bl. d. deutsch.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
86
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., etc., MUnchen,
1889, XX, 49^53. — Ottolenghi. II
gusto nei criminali in rapporto coi nor-
mal!. Arch, di psichiat., etc., Torino,
1889. X, 332-338.— Palmer (A. N.)
Quasi-totemistic personal names in
Wales. Archaeol.Rev., Lond., 1889-90,
iv,iS2.— PauliUchke(P.) DieWan-
demngen der Orom6 oder Galia Ost-
Afrikas. Festschr. z. BegrQssung. . . .
d. Deutsch. u.Wi^n, anthrop. Gesellsch.
in Wien, Wien, 1889, 59-71, i pi.;
-also^ Mitth. d. Anthrop. Gesellsch. in
Wien, 1889, n. F., ix, 165-177. — Feet
(S. D.) Autochthonous origin of the
American civilization. Am. Anti-
quarian, Mendon, 111., 1889, xi, 314-
320. — -^ Burial mounds viewed as
monuments. Ibid,., 359-378. I map, I
♦ pi. Geographical distribution of
monuments. /JiV., 267-292.
Animal effigies and tribal history.
Ibid,, 383-387.— Peilafiel (A. ) Ex-
plication del'^diHce mexicain 2i PExpo-
sition Internationale de Paris de 1889.
Rev. d'ethnog.. Par., 1889, viii, 192-
200.— Petrone (A.) Contribuzione
alia teoria dell' atavismo in un caso
raro di polimastia maschile (6 mam-
melle). Progresso med., Napoli, 1889,
iii, 516-524, I pi.— Plaachat (E.)
Exposition universelle. L'Annam et
le Tonkin. Rev. scient., Par., 1889,
xliv, 337-342. — Pokrowski (E.)
Mat^riaux pour servir ^ T^tude de I'^du-
cation physique chez les difiigrents peu-
ples de I'empire russe. Rev. d'ethnog. ,
Par., 1888, vii, 520-567.— Poole (R.
S.) Die igyptische Classificirung der
Menschenrassen. [Transl.from: J. An-
throp. Inst., Lond., 1886-7, xvi, 370-
379]. Arch. f. Anthrop., Brnschwg.,
1888-9, xviii, 337-341, I pi. — Porter
(J. H.) Notes on the artificial deform-
ation of children among savage and
civilized peoples, with a bibliography.
Ann. Rep. Smith. Inst., 1887, pt. 2,
Wash., 1889, 213-235.— Rabot (C.)
Les Ostiaques les Samoy^des et les
Ziri^nes d'aprds les travaux de M.
Sommier. Rev. d'ethnog., Par., 1889,
viii, 121-148.— Relohaxd (P.) Die
Wanjamuesi. Zeitschr. f. Gesellsch. f.
Erdkunde, Beri., 1889, xxiv, 246-260.
— Reid (T.) Intermittent sensations.
Nature, Lond., 1889-90, xl, 318. —
Retsias (G.) Alphonse Bertillons
antropometriska metod att identifiera
brottslingar. Hygiea. Festband [etc. ] ,
Stockholm, 1889, No. 10, 1-36. —
Robioa (F.) Recherches r6centes
sur la religion de I'ancienne fegypte.
Le Culte. V. Les temples 6gyptiens.
Mus^on, Louvain, 1889, viii, 552-
562— Rodiger (F.) Zur Frage der
Becken-und Schalensteineim Fichtelge-
birge. Cor.-Bl. d. deutsch. Gesellsch.
f. Anthrop. , etc. , MQnchen, 1 889, xx, 7 ;
14.— Roger (G. H.) L'h£r6dit6 dans
les maladies infectieuses. Gaz. hebd.
de m^d.. Par., 1889, 2. s., xxvi, 657;
670; 685. — Rosenthal (J.) Zur
Frage der Vererbung erworbener Eigen-
schaften. Biol. Centralbl., Eriang.,
i889-90,ix, 510-512.— Roth (H. L.)
On salutations. J. Anthrop. Inst.,
Lond., 1889-90, xix, 1 64-1 81. —
Roand (J. H.) Domesday measures
of land. Archaeol. Rev., Lond.,
1889-90, iv, 130-140. — St. John (R.
F. St. A.) Indo- Burmese folk-lore.
Folk-lore J., Lond., 1889, vii, 306-
313.— Balsotto (G.) Sulla donna de-
linquente. Arch, di psichiat., etc.,
Torino, 1889, x, 262-271.— Sander-
son (J. S. B.) Biology. Nature,
Lond., 1889, xl, 521-526.— Schlen-
ning ( W.) ' Velia in Lucanien. Jahrb.
Kaiserl. Deutsch. Arch&ol. Inst., Berl.,
1889, iv, 169-194.— Sohmldt (E.)
Ueber Vererbung individuell erwor-
bener Eigenschaflen. Cor.-Bl. d.
deutsch. Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., etc.,
Mttnchen, 1888, xix, 144-148.—
Schneider (A.) Andokides. Jahrb.
Kaiserl. Deutsch. Archlol. Inst., Berl.,
1889, iv, 195-207. — Sohomaoher
(K.) Archaische Vasen aus La Tolfa.
Ibid., 228-253. — Scomp (H. A.)
Can the race problems be solved ?
Forum, N. Y., 1889, xxiii, 365-376.—
Searcy (J. T.) Heredity. Med.
Rec, N. Y., 1889, xxxvi, 314.— See-
land (N.) La Kashgarie et les passes
du Tian-Chan. Rev. d'anthrop.. Par.,
i888, 3. s., iii. 684; 1889, 3. s., iv, 37 ;
306; 531.— Shufeldt (R. W.) The
drawings of a Navajo artist. Mag.
Am. Hist., N. Y., 1889, xxiii, 463-
468.— Smith (De 0.) Additional
notes on Onondaga witchcraft and Ho"
do'-i. J. Am. Folk-lore, Bost. & N.
Y., 1889, ii. 277-281. Onon-
daga superstitions. Ibid, , 282. — Sny-
der (B. F.) Anchor stones. Ann.
Rep. Smith. Inst., 1887, pt. 2, Wash.,
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.]
ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
87
1889, 683-688, 3 pl.~Sominl6r (S.)
Notedi viaggia; Mordvi; popolazione
di Astrakan; Kalmucchi. Arch, per
Tantrop., Firenze, 1889, xix, 1 17-157,
6 pi.— Stearns (R. E. C.) Ethno-
conchology : A study of primitive
money. Ann. Rep. Smith. Inst., 1887,
pt. 2, Wash., 1889, 297-334, 9 pi.—
Steenstrap (J.) Mammuthjseger-
Stationen vcd Predmost i det Ssterrigske
Kronland M&hren, efter et Besdg der i
Juni-Juli 1888. K^s. La station des
chasseurs de mammuths de Predmost.
Overs, o. d. k. Danske Vidensk. Selsk.
F5rh., KjSbenh., 1888, 145-212; ix-
xii, I pi.— Stephen (A. M.) The
Navajo shoemaker. Proc. U. S. Nat.
Mus., 1888, Wash., 1^89, xi, 131-136.—
Tassin (A. G. ) Among the Apaches.
Overland Month., San Fran., 1889, xiv,
31 1 ; 374. — Thompson (G.) An In-
dian dance at Jemez, New Mexico.
Am. Anthrop., Wash., 1889, ii, 351-
355.— Thomson (A.) On the oste-
ology of the Veddahs of Ceylon. J.
Anthrop. Inst., Lond., 1889-90, xix,
125-159, I tab.— Thomson (I.)
How I crossed Masailand. Scribner*s
Mag., N. Y., 1889, vi, 387-405. 3 pi.—
Tomkins (Hev, H. G.) Notes on
the Hyksds or Shepherd Kings of
Egypt- J* Anthrop. Inst., U)nd.,
1889-90, xflk, 183-199.— Topinard
(P.) Carte de la coirleur des yeux et
des cheveux en France. Rev. d'an-
throp.. Par., 1889, 3- s., iv, 5»3-530--
Tregear (E.) The Maoris of New
2^aland. J. Anthrop. Inst., Lond.,
1889-90, xix, 97-1 23. — Treiohel (A.)
Hexenringe und kdrperfdrniige Gras-
fehle. Verhandl. d. Berl. Gesellsch. f.
Anthrop., Berl., 1889,352-355. — Tur-
ner (5"irW.) Anthroix>logy. Nature,
Lond., 1889, xl. 520-533.
Also, [Abstrj. Med. Press & Circ,
Lond., 1889, n. s., xlviii, 327-330.-^-
Undset (I.) Terramaren in Ungam.
Festschr. z. BegT€ssung . . . . d. Deutsch.
u. W ien. anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien,
Wien, 1889, 19-27, 2 pi. Also, Mitth.
d. anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien, 1889,
n. F., ix, 125-133. 2 pi.— Variot (G.)
Les tatouages et les peintures de la peau.
Rev. scient.. Par., 1889. xliv, 395-401.
Observations surla pigmentation
cicatricielle des nigres, et recherches
microscopiques sur l6s naevi pigmen-
taires d'un mulfttre. Bull. Soc. d'an-
throp. de Par., 1889, 3. 8. xii, 463. —
Vines (S. H.) An examination of
some points in Prof. Weismann's theory
of heredity. Nature, Lond., 1889, xl,
621-626.— Wake (C. S.) The dis-
tribution of American totems. Am.
Antiquarian, Mendon, 111., 1889, xi,
354-358.— Ward (L. F.) The socio- '
logical position of proteaion and free
trade. Am. Anthrop., Wash., 1889, ii,
289-299.— Webster (C. L.) An-
cient mounds and earthworks in Floyd
and Cerro Gordo Counties, Iowa. Ann.
Rep. Smith. Inst., 1887, pt. 2, Wash.,
'889, 575-589. — Weisbaoh (A.)
Die Zigeuner. Festschr. z. Begriis-
sung . . . . d. Deutsch. u. Wien. anthrop.
Gesellsch. in Wien, Wien, 1889, i-ii,
I tab.; alsot Mitth. d. anthrop. Ge-
sellsch. in Wien, 1889, n. F., ix, 107-
117, I ub.— Wilde (W. C.) Some
words on thief talk. J. Am. Folk-lore,
Bost. & N. Y., 1889, ii, 301-306.—
Wright (G. F.) The Idaho find.
Am. Antiquarian, Mendon, III., 1889,
x»f 379-301. — Zampa (R.) Teste
d'assassine e teste di galantuomini.
Arch, di psichiat., etc., Torino, 1889,
X, 277-281. — Zncoarelli (A.) Un
mattoide da romanzo. Anomalo, Na-
poli, 1889, i, 151; 171; 197.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
88 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
BOOK NOTICES.
A Lendpi- English Dictionary. From an Anonymous MS, in the
Archives of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem^ Pa, Editedy with
Additions y by Daniel G, Brinton^ A, M,^ M, D,y Professor of
Archceology and Linguistics in the University of Pennsylvania^ and
Rev, Albert Seqaqkind Anthony ^ Assistant Missionary to the Dela-
wares and Six Nations, Canada, Philadelphia : The Historical
Society of Pennsylvania^ 1888, (The Pennsylvania Students*
Series. Vol. I. Philadelphia : The Historical Society of Penn-
sylvania, 1889.)
Doctor Brinton has laid students of American linguistics under
many and deep obligations, and the volume just issued will materi-
ally increase the debt. The " Lenap^-English Dictionary" is the
first of a series of volumes relating to the history of Pennsylvania
which are intended to be issued by the Pennsylvania Historical
Society. The present book does not purport to be, by any means,
a complete dictionary of the Lenap6 language. It represents sim-
ply the dialect employed by the Moravian missionari«, about the
period of 1840, and is chiefly derived from a manuscript in the
Moravian archives at Bethlehem, presumably compiled by Mr.
Dencke. In its preparation Doctor Brinton was fortunate in being
able to secure the co-operation of the Rev. Albert Seqaqkind
Anthony, a native Len^p^, who is perfectly familiar with his lan-
guage as spoken on the Six Nation Reservation, in Ontario, Canada,
In addition to his valuable verification of the form and meaning of
the words, this Indian scholar has made many emendations and
additions from the present standpoint of the language and from the
dialect of the Minsi sub-tribe, thus adding much to the substance
and value of the work. Taken in connection with Zeisberger's
Dictionary, the student has a very complete dictionary of the Dela-
ware language, though the latter volume is by no means to be com-
pared to the present work in point of accuracy and scholarship. The
original dictionary was written, of course, in the German alphabet,
which would impair its usefulness to the English student had not
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 89
Doctor Brinton furnished a key to the more important alphabetic
differences. The extreme clearness and beauty of the type and the
general make-up of the volume might serve as a model for future
works of this character. A well-prepared index, which is really in
the nature of an alphabetically arranged cross-reference, renders easy
the reference from English to Lenip^, and to a great extent makes
unnecessary an English-Lenip^ dictionary.
H. W. Henshaw.
Among Cannibals^ an Account of Four dears' Travels in Australia
and of Camp-Life with the Aborigines of Queensland by Carl Lum-
holdzy M. A,, Member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Norway,
Translated by Rasmus B. Anderson, Ex- United States Minister
to Denmark, with Portrait, Maps, Four Chromo-Lithographs and
Wood' Cuts. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, i88p.
This is an octavo volume of nearly 400 pages, handsomely printed,
showily bound, and well illustrated. Much of the text is occupied
by the personal adventures of the author, descriptions of scenery and
of the life of European colonists in Australia, but there is not more
than enough of such matter to afford a general interest to the work
and to give the reader a fair idea of the surroundings of the race
which forms the main subject of the work — the Cannibals of Aus-
tralia.
The author seems to have gone to the southeastern continent
primarily as a zoologist. Anthropology was a secondary considera-
tion in the beginning, but before he left the country it became
uppermost in his thoughts. It was to find a mammal new to science
that this explorer undertook his most perilous journey, with only
native companions, among the wild mountains of northern Queens-
land; but on his toilsome marches he gathered information that
the anthropologist will value far beyond the hard-won skins of the
boongary, which he went into the wilderness to seek. He adopted
the best and, we might almost say, the only method of acquiring
original ethnographic facts ; he trusted his life among the treacher-
ous natives, lived with them and shared a common lot with them.
The statements which he offers us as the results of a specific pur-
pose in investigation are of great value, but the little items which he
has picked up by the wayside when he had apparently no direct aim
12
Digitized by VjOOQIC
90 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
in view are of equal or often of higher importance. The compara-
tive and the speculative ethnologist will find this book a storehouse
of suggestive facts.
We know from the works of other explorers that the aborigines of
the older Australian colonies possess an elaborate social system, with
totemic clans and a complex classification of kinship. Our author
has apparently not investigated this question among the races of
Queensland, or if he has he tells us nothing directly about it, but
we can fairly conjecture that some such system exists in tropical
Australia from certain passages, as that relating to name giving on
page 230, and that treating of terms of relationship on page 199,
and that speaking of tabus on page 136.
The student of American ethnography will, we think, gain a more
exalted idea of the cult of the northern Australians from incidents
casually related by the author than from his formulated opinions of
their religious beliefs. On page 136 we find an allusion to a series
ot initiations or ordeals which the Australian male has to pass
through between youth and old age. They seem somewhat similar
in character to those of certain esoteric societies graduated accord-
ing to age which exist among our American races and which
possess most elaborate "work** in the different degrees. The oft
quoted Korroboree is usually considered by travelers as a mere dance
for amusement ; our author refers to it as a * * festival dance ' ' (p. 236),
yet we feel that he gives true key to its purport when he tells us
(p. 239), **I could not induce them to explain to me the signifi-
cance of the performance, but still I managed to find out that it had
some connection with the devil." That it is a ritual or religious
dance we have no doubt. It is probable that this application of the
word devil is derived from the colonists. It is a common practice
among christians to regard heathen gods as devils. The Spanish
conquerors declared that the American races worshipped the devil,
but we now know these races had as good a lot of gods as ever
ancient Greek or Roman prayed to. The distinction between a
deity and a demon is often but a matter of individual judgment.
The gods of the highest race have been vindictive and cruel. On
the whole, from the perusal of this book, we are led to the opinion that
the natives of Queensland have a cultus well worthy of earnest study*
On page 284 Mr. Lumholtz declares that sacrifices are not to be
found in Australia. On page 136 he relates that, after certain cere-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 91
monies performed over a boy, " the strips of skin which gradually
fall off from the wounds as they heal are gathered in a little basket,
which he subsequently carries for some time about his neck until he
finally throws its content out in the woods — ogives it to the 'devil,'
as it is called. We are inclined to regard this as an instance of a
sacrifice, but here there may be between author and reviewer a dif-
ference of definition rather than one of opinion.
We derive from Mr. Lumholtz' work a higher estimate of the
autochthones of Queensland than we entertained before we read it.
We find that they have a sign language ; that they use the message
sticks observed in other parts of Australia ; that they have laws re-
specting property, binding though unwritten, (p. 147); that they
have stated occasions when the injured may right their wrongs,
which, if inferior in development to modern courts of justice, are
fully equal to the mediaeval passages at arms. We discover that
wives are often treated with respect and even with fondness, that
women have influence, and that their voice is not without its weight
in tribal councils.
In describing a Karrobee^ he says, (p. 239) : " On one side of
the square, opposite the music, a sort of chamber was constructed
where the chief performers made their toilets and kept themselves
concealed until the performance commenced." Is not this merely
the antipodal counter-part of the medicine-lodge of the American
ceremonies ? He speaks also of the presence of clowns at the
dance ; similar characters are commonly seen at Indian rites. The
picture of the sepulchral scaffold, on p. 275, might be used to illus-
trate a book of travel in Dakota 20 years ago. But the parallels
between Australian and American ethnography might fill a volume.
The work is readable. No one who peruses the first chapter will
lay the book aside until he has finished it. The author satisfies our
curiosity on many points, but he arouses it and leaves it still crav-
ing on many more. We wish he had witnessed a cannibal feast and
could tell us thereof as much from personal observation as he has
told us of the snake-feast. We think we could have condoned his
offence even had he joined the natives in a hunt for idlogro ; but we
must not expect everything. He has accomplished wonders in four
years' travel, occupied as he was with other interests, yet we close
the book with the conviction that there is much more to be told.
We feel that the lore of the savages of Australia is like the gold of
Digitized by VjOOQIC
92 THE AMKBICAN ANTHROPOTXKMST. [Vol. III.
her mountains, though far more precious, and that much more re-
mains behind than has ever been taken away.
We hope that Mr. Lumholtz' work among the Australians is not
ended, and that he may be afforded further opportunities of pursu-
ing his investigations. He is peculiarily fitted for an explorer.
He possesses youth, strength, a good digestion, a ** strong stomach,**
a resolute purpose, a Norseman's valor, an enthusiastic love for his
work, and, above all, a clear understanding of the peculiar difficul-
ties which beset the path of the ethnographer. Who that has ever
wrestled in spirit with the wily savage to win from him the secrets
of his heart will not agree with the opinions expressed in the first
paragraph on page 228, which he closes by saying: **The best in-
formation is secured by paying attention to their own conversations.
If you ask them questions they simply try to guess what answers
you would like and then they give such responses as they think will
please you. This is the reason why so many have been deceived
by the savages, and this is the source of all the absurd stories about
the Australian blacks.*'
W. Matthews.
La France Prthistorique (Taprh Les StpuUures et les Monuments
par imile Cartailhac, Paris^ i88g.
The director of the well-known review, Mattriaux pour mistoire
primitive de t Homme ^ gives the result of many years of labor in this
volume of 336 octavo pages with 162 illustrations in the text. While
its title restrict its scope to the territory of France and its line of
prehistoric researches to sepulchral and monumental remains, those
are introduced by a general discussion on the antiquity of man and
the primitive stages of his culture. Also throughout the volume
comparisons and parallels taken from all parts of the world are pre-
sented in illustration and explanation of the topics under immediate
examination. The author announces that the present monograph,
devoted exclusively to the age of stone, will be followed by one upon
the early part of the metallic age.
The most marked characteristic of the work is that it is not con-
finied to a statement of facts more or less definitely ascertained, as is
the usual course in treatises intended for simple tuition, but that it
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 93
directs at least equal attention to the still uncertain problems upon
which the continued efforts of intelligent students may profitably be
engaged. The author emphatically professes as his guiding princi-
ple that all theories, of whatever apparent value, should retain only
a provisional character. He declares that the essential mode of
reaching the truth is to make avowal of ignorance, and that the
definition of the boundaries of the unknown is the first step in the
promotion of discovery. This cautious and philosophic attitude is
in marked contrast to the haste and dogmatism which have been
shown in some other treatises on prehistoric man. It is illustrated
in his judicious, and indeed judicial, discussion of the two so-called
Canstadt and Cro-Magnon races, which he concludes by a note of
warning on the impossibility of forming valid reasoning from the
small number of crania available for study. Granting the races as
once distinct, their marches and counter-marches in migrations
would necessarily have involved the frequent marriage jf the male
invaders with the women of the invaded people, and hence hybridi-
zation. Intricate mathematical devices for the study of prehistoric
man have been unproductive in result. Paleontologists have not
found such devices to be necessary in the classification of fossil
animals. In every recent year new instruments of precision have
been invented for the comparative mensuration of all the bones of
man, and cranial measurement has been refined to such an extent as
to require eighty groups of figures for its record, yet all with dubi-
ous advantage.
Perhaps the most positive, and at the same time the most useful
general remarks made by the author on a controverted theme, are
on the length of the neolithic age. These remarks suggest the
mobility of peoples and their propagation by dispersal as distinct
from their migrations in bodies, during the neolithic age. The
gradual results of immigration and emigration and of intertribal
connection would account for much of what has been attributed, in
a loose and grandiose style, to cataclysmic irruptions and convul-
sions. The causes of change in population which are now in opera-
tion were, with proper allowance for differing conditions, in opera-
tion in prehistoric times. But, as the author infers, such views re-
quire the admission that the neolithic period was of much longer
duration than has generally been granted to it in the anthropologic
chronology. ,
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94 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
This excellent work will be more appreciated by the general
student than by specialists, for the reason that specialists are not
often philosophic.
Garrick Mallery.
Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales with Notes on the Origin^
Customs^ and Character of the Pawnee People^ by George Bird
GrinnelL New York Forest and Stream Publishir^ Company ^
i88p.
It has long been known that our Indians possessed a rich store of
hero tales and mythology, and that by the narration of these their
winter camp-fires were enlivened, the brave deeds done by their
warriors were handed down, and the mythical explanation of things
were perpetuated ^rom generation to generation. A vast number of
these stories have been gathered from time to time by travelers and
by students. As repeated by the former the tales are but too often
the skeletons of the full narrations, while the literal translations of
the professed student, though of great value to the linguist, are by
no means so well adapted to the wants of the ordinary reader.
The present volume, therefore, will be welcome to a large class,
both because the author's long and intimate acquaintance with the
Pawnees enables him to speak whereof he knows, while his literary
skill enables him to present his subject in a most attractive style.
The author has seized the opportunity to preserve these stories none
too soon, for the tribe has wo fully diminished of late years. When
he knew them on the Loup Fork, in Nebraska, in 1870, they num-
bered 3,000, while now they number but about 800. The knowl-
edge of the old traditions and of the myths disappear almost as
rapidly, and to delay their collection means to lose much of the
aboriginal flavor. White influence has already had a marked effect
upon many of the customs and beliefs, as appears by the author's
statement of Pawnee faith in one supreme deity, a belief which, in
the case of no tribe, antedated contact with the European.
The folk-tales selected are of peculiar interest, and some of them
doubtless date back to a remote period, though from the nature of
their character such stories alter somewhat with each generation.
Being in their essential character Indian philosophy — ii e,, an
attempt to explain the nature and causes of phenomena, they in-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 95
sensibly change with the growth of the people and embody new
thoughts as knowledge and experience widen. Thus, though tradi-
tional, they are to be regarded as only to a slight extent historical,
a truth which applies to hero-tale and myth alike.
The Pawnees are fortunate in having a historian so friendly and
patriotic as Mr. Grinnell. No battle-scarred warrior to the manor
bom could exhibit more enthusiasm for Pawnee prowess in war and
generosity in peace, or be more ready to detect and praise Pawnee
virtues of all kinds than he. Other writers, with a like personal
intimacy with other tribes, have shown the same partiality for them
and, it may be added, the same poor opinion of alien and hostile
tribes. There is scarcely a tribe prominently known in history which
has not thus been exalted at the expense of other tribes — ^proof that
virtues dwell in all alike, ready to spring forth at the touch of
friendly intercourse. The Indian, makes a capital friend and a
dreaded enemy.
The author's ** Notes on the Pawnees" occupy 193 of the 417
pages of the volume and contain some extremely interesting and
valuable matter. His story of ** A Summer Hunt " is a most graphic
picture of the old time buffalo hunt, now a memory of the past, and
nothing so good in its line has appeared since Parkman gave us his
** California and Oregon Trail."
Under the head of ** Relationships " the author enumerates the
Pawnee divisions and the cognate tribes, but in his ethnologic
details he is less happy that in other portions of the volume. It may
be stated with confidence that, contrary to the author's conclusions,
the Tonkaways and Lipans are not related to the Pawnees nor to
each other. The Lipan and Tonkaway have been long associated
and are extensively intermarried, and thus doubtless has arisen a
confused idea as to their respective languages. The Tonkaway are,
in fact, not known to be related to any other tribe, but stand apart
and constitute a distinct linguistic family. If the Tonkaway per-
sonal names are similar to the Pawnee, the fact is curious and worthy
of investigation, though it is by no means unknown for personal
names to be borrowed from another tribe. The possession of similar
songs may be explained by their purchase, a common Indian prac-
tice, or they too may have been borrowed, not perhaps directly from
the Pawnee, but from some related tribe. Prior to the Civil War
the Tonkaway were placed upon a reservation in Indian Territory,
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96 THE AMBRICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol.111.
where they were associated with Witchitas, Towakenoes, Caddos,
Kichai, and Waco, all Pawnian tribes, and thus opportunity was
afforded for unlimited borrowing.
The relationship of the Lipan to the Pawnee has been affirmed
before, as Dunbar noted (p. 219), and for a very curious reason. An
old spelling of the name is Lee-panes. The first syllable Lee- haS
been erroneously assumed to be the French particle Le, and so trans-
lated, The Panes or Pawnees. In point of fact the Lipan are a
branch of the Apaches and speak an Apache dialect, which in turn
belongs to the great Athapaskan or Tinn6 family of languages of
British America. If, as the author probably correctly states, the
Pawnees and their congeners originally came from the south, the
Apache and Lipan, with the same or greater certainty, originated in
the far north, and the only bond of kinship between the two peoples
is that common to all Indian tribes wherever found.
The value of the book does not depend upon such details as these
and should not be judged by them. Altogether the volume may be
commended both to the student and the general reader as one of the
very best of its class. Scattered through it are cuts of characteristic
Pawnee faces, costumes, and implements, which add to its attractive
appearance and are in keeping with the generally excellent make-up
of the book.
H. W. Henshaw.
Bibliography of the Muskhogean Languages by James Consiantine
Pilling, fVashington: Government Printing Office, 188^ (Bul-
letin of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology.)
The interest in American linguistics here and abroad is evidently
increasing, and the number of scholars in the country at present
engaged in the study of Indian languages, though even now not
large, is a constantly growing one ; ere long the subject will receive
the attention it deserves. It is to be remarked, however, that as the
number of students increase opportunities to collect material are
diminishing, and with ever increasing rapidity. As the Indians die
out, opportunities for original investigation die with them, and thus
it appears that the duty of the hour for linguistic students is to
accumulate and preserve the vanishing material rather than to elabo-
rately study it. While the labors of Mr. Pilling concern the dis-
covery and record of the linguistic material already gathered, they
Digitized by VjOOQIC
il'. . - ' ■ ^ •
Jan. 1890.] BOOK NOTICES.: > .. -^. \v^S
■ •• . v J^h^ -•'
have a distinct and important value, since they not onfjrfecord the
titles of books and tell where they may be consulted, but they furn-
ish a comparative view of what has been done and of what remains
to do to perfect the material for study in each group of languages.
The fourth instalment of Mr. Filling's work is now at hand in the
"Bibliography of the Muskhogean Languages." The author's
original plan contemplated a large volume, to include the whole
subject of Indian bibliography, and in fact proof-sheets of this were
printed and distributed among a small number of students. The
present method of a separate bibliography for each linguistic stock
is a great improvement, for as the studies of each student are gener-
ally confined to the languages and dialects of one family, the present
plan brings within handy compass just the material needed by each
one, and no more. Though based upon the material accumulated
under the earlier plan of a single volume, the present Muskhogean
bibliography is much more full than its predecessor, as it embodies
the results of the compiler's later extensive researches, both at home
and abroad, in public and private libraries. All the entries are
under one alphabetic arrangement, a plan at once so simple and
convenient that no one can fail to find what he is in search of or to
learn just what material is available for study. To the latter end
the plan adopted of cross-reference from the tribes to the matter
published in the particular dialect, and to the authors, is an admira-
ble one.
The fifth instalment is to be the Algonquian family — the most
fruitful in material of all — and thb is already far advanced toward
completion. Altogether, linguistic scholars are greatly indebted to
Mr. Pilling for the energy and thoroughness with which he has
prosecuted his researches and for the admirable way in which they
are presented, and to the Bureau of Ethnology under whose auspices
the work has been prosecuted.
F. A. Sekly.
13
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98 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The Legends and Myths of Hawaii^ The Fables and Folk-Lore of a
Strange People. By His Hawaiian Majesty Kalakaua, Edited
and with an Introduction by Hon, R. M, Daggett. New York :
Charles L. Webster 6f* Co., 1888. 8vOy pp, 530, with mapypll.,
and ill.
Among the numerous works on folk-lore which have recently
appeared, the present book is far from being the least important.
Its interest consists in the fact that it contains the legends of one of
a series of groups of isolated peoples extending over a vast area,
though connected by linguistic and ethnic affinities, and in the addi-
tional fact that these mythical and semi-historical tales have been
compiled and arranged by the ruler of the people among whom they
are preserved. Though Kalakaua is known to be a writer of good
English, and is probably fully competent for the production of these
tales, no doubt the volume has benefited by the collaboration of
Mr. Daggett, who in addition to his editorship supplies a valuable
introduction of 65 pages.
In theorizing as to the origin of the Hawaiians, Mr. Daggett dis-
cards the current idea that they are of Malayan origin and adopts
the view of the late Judge Fornander, who believed the Polynesian
and Malayan races to be distinct, and traces the Hawaiian people to
an Aryan origin in Asia. Mr. Daggett sees proofs of such an origin
in the old Hawaiian religion, which he states has a ** theocracy of
curious structure," **a system of idolatrous forms and sacrifices
engrafted without consistency upon the Jewish story of the creation,
the fall of man, the revolt of Lucifer, the Deluge, and the repopula-
tion of the earth."
In answering the question, " How did the Hawaiian priesthood
become possessed of the story of the Hebrew genesis?" Mr. Daggett
discards the idea that the story was acquired through Israelitish con-
tact with the ancestors of the Polynesians, and offers as more reason-
able the assumption that the ** Hawaiian theogony, so strangely
perpetuated, is an independent and perhaps original version of a
series of creation legends common in the remote past to the Cushite,
Semite, and Aryan tribes," and he might have added to most other
peoples of the earth. If such criteria are to be relied upon as proof
of origin and genetic relationship, then truly the whole world is
akin. The mythology and customs of the North American Indians
offer a great many parallels to Israelitish and other ancient beliefs
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 99
as Striking as the Polynesian, and writers have not failed to use
them to prove the descent of the Indians from Aryan or Semite an-
cestors.
According to recent anthropologic investigations it would appear
that the groups of the Pacific, usually designated as the Polynesians,
and the remaining insular peoples, termed the Papuans — one branch
of which is represented by the Malagasy of Madagascar — are allied,
although the former are distinguished by having wavy hair and
light complexion, and the latter woolly hair and a dusky skin.
The Hawaiian Islands were made known to the world through
their discovery by Capt. Cook in January, 1778, although it is
stated that a manuscript chart, still in existence in the archives of
the Spanish Government, goes to prove that these Islands had been
discovered as early as 1555, by Juan Gaetano, on his trip from the
coast of Mexico to the Spice Islands.
The first appearance of the Hawaiians in their present habitat
was, according to tradition, about the middle of the sixth century,
and at intervals other bands continued to arrive from the southern
islands, presumably the Society group.
In the introduction is presented a list of sovereigns of Hawaii,
giving the dates and duration of their reigns, commencing in 1095,
and ending with the present ruler. The law of the tabu is explained
as having been ''a prerogative adhering exclusively to political and
ecclesiastical rank. It was a command either to do or not to do, and
the meaning of it was ' obey or die.* *' T\it pulaulaUy or tabu mark,
was placed upon or opposite anything not to be trespassed upon or
to be entered — as the temples. The tabu color of royalty was yellow,
while that of the priesthood was red, and feather mantles of these
colors could be used only by kings and princes. A royal robe of
this character is in the ethnologic collection of the National
Museum in this city.
No reference is made either to the former practice of tattooing
in Hawaii, or to the pictographic delineation of objects or ideas,
although it is well known that petroglyphs occur quite frequently
in some of the southern groups of islands, as well as the evidences
of a past knowledge of some form of mnemonic characters.
In addition to an interesting account of the ancient religion,
arts, habits and customs, illustrations are given of various utensils
and weapons. Of the twenty-one legends presented those embraced
between the first and the sixteenth, "The Destruction of the
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100 THE AMERICAN ANTHBOPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Temples," relate to that period of Hawaiian history from the twelfth
to the beginning of the present century. The remaining narratives
are more purely mythical and relate chiefly to Hawaiian gods and
goddesses.
The appendix consists of a glossary of over 450 words, with a
brief note respecting the language, which, properly, contains but
twelve characters, five vowels and seven consonants.
The character of the volume is such as to reflect great credit upon
its author and to insure its welcome among folk-lore students.
W. J. Hoffman.
NOTES AND NEWS.
The Descendants of PALfiOLiTHic Man in America. — In an
interesting article in the Deceipber number of the Popular Science
Monthly, Dr. Abbot presents some important conclusions from
recent studies from the Trenton district. He is convinced from
long experience, that " in the vast majority of instances stone im-
plements are practically in the same position that they were when
buried, lost, or discarded.*'
In certain upland fields, never far from water courses, and in the
alluvial mud of the tide-water meadows of the Delaware, he finds
** well designed spear points, larger than Indian arrowheads, which
might readily be supposed to be the handiwork of the historic
Indians.'* Not more than 20 per cent, of these are found in other
situations. With these he correlates a " rude pottery " found by
Prof. Lockwood, in upland fields of the same locality. Referring
such implements to palaeolithic man, he concludes that he or his
immediate descendants were not ** strictly amphibious" but that
they resorted to the forests and uplands for game.
The spear points are of argillite, as are the rude gravel imple-
ments which have been referred to the glacial epoch, and he con-
cludes that the former indicate " no change of race, no abrupt
transition from one method of tool-making to that of another, but
merely an improvement that was doubtless as gradual as the change
fi-om the epoch of glacial cold to that of our moderate climate of
to-day." He finds a marked preponderance of argillite implements
on the crests of the uplands and a very great excess of jasper and
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Jan. 1890.] NOTES AND NEWS. 101
quartz on the bottom land, or that* directly adjacent to the stream,
and hence infers that when these higher points were occupied, the
present streams maintained a uniform flow as high as the freshet
stage of the present water courses. The fact that Indian village
sites are nearer the water courses indicates that the ** volume of
water in all our streams, comparing century with century, is grad-
ually lessening."
In solving the question of the race which made argillite imple-
ments, he seems inclined to dissent from the quoted conclusion of
Prof. Haynes that, "the palaeolithic man of the river gravels at
Trenton and his argillite using posterity, the writer believes to be
completely extinct," and believes that they who fashioned these
rude argillite implements were the descendants of palaeolithic man,
and his superior in so far as a knowledge (>f the bow and arrow and
rude pottery indicates,"
• This intermediate people he refers to the Eskimo. He does not
consider that the Eskimo are necessarily the descendants of the
more advanced palaeolithic people, but that both were derived from
palaeolithic man.
The conclusion reached by Dr. Abbott, that the palaeolithic man
of the Trenton gravels did not remain absolutely stationary in
respect to his arts, but improved his rude argillite implements to an
extent which renders them comparable with Indian productions of
a like nature, seems reasonable enough. To conclude also, that
palaeolithic man, habituated as he was to a cold climate and to the
arts engendered thereby, followed the retreating ice-sheet north-
ward, as doubtless did the animals and birds upon which he subsis-
ted, and finally developed into the Eskimo, is not unreasonable.
The probability that some of the palaeolithic men who dwelt at
the edge of the ice-sheet when it occupied New Jersey, may have
remained, and that " their descendants changed in their habits, so
as to meet the requirements of a temperate climate," did not escape
Dr. Abbott's attention.
Palaeolithic man of New Jersey, habituated to a temperate cli-
mate^ — and the gradual recession of the ice-sheet with the consequent
slow change of climate, fauna and flora gave ample time for such
habitude — seems to possess all the requirements of the North
American Indian. In fact, the Eskimo himself seems to be no
other being, so far as we have evidence, than the Indian under the
peculiar conditions of arctic climate. In some respects he is highly
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102 THE AMBRICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
specialized by the peculiar conditions of his life which merely
means, I take it, that in order to live at all in the regions which he
chose for his own, or was driven to, he brought himself into har-
mony with his surroundings, as have all other tribes and peoples
wheresoever they live. But his language, arts, institutions, religion,
methods of subsistence, and perhaps also his physical traits hardly
differ more from many other stocks of Indians than such stocks do
from each other.
The explanation of the origin of the many distinct families of
Indians — and there are fifty-eight north of Mexico — will explain the
origin of the Eskimo stock as well. There seems to be no present
proof of a cataclysm which divides palaeolithic man in this country
from his successor, the North American Indian, and until such
proof is forthcoming, it is more rational to consider palaeolithic
man as he who first left traces of his presence in this country and
bequeathed his rude arts in unbroken succession to descendants who
lived on and were found by Columbus in full possession of the
land.
Mound Exploration in Georgia. — The results of a recent in-
vestigation of a Georgia mound by Mr. Reynolds, of the Bureau of
Ethnology, are among the most remarkable yet recorded. This
mound was discovered in a bend of the Savannah river, three
miles from Hollywood and about the same distance from Silver Bluff,
one of the supposed sites of the ancient town of Cutifachiqui. It
proved to be a burial mound of the stratified type — the sub-stratum
being a hard vegetable or "crawfish** soil, seven feet in depth, and
the upper a sandy micaceous loam. ITie subsoil alone contained
the interments.
Human Crania. — Only the merest traces of crania and teeth re-
mained. The conditions were very conducive to decay.
Pottery, — The pottery consists of twenty-three clay pots, ranging
in size from small narrow neck jars to huge urns or cooking vessels
containg about sixteen gallons. Two of the latter class, elaborately
ornamented by means of a stamping and combing process, respect-
ively, are considered the largest specimens of aboriginal pottery yet
discovered. One of the smaller specimens, which doubtless bears
some religious significance and which from its character has been
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Jan. 1890.] NOTES AND NEWS. 103
denominated "the triune pot," consists of a vase, the neck of which
unites three uniform human heads that form its base. Another, which
might also have served some mythological function is elaborately
and ingeniously carved, the carving being that of two symbolical
rattlesnakes, their heads surmounted by horns, and their teeth, fangs,
and rattles faithfully and skillfully executed. In one portion where
the winding outline of the two serpents affords the space a human
face is delineated in a somewhat grotesque manner. The tempering
material of the pottery consists of a micaceous sand.
Copper Implements, — ^These were four celts of hammered, laminated
copper, with more or less flaring edges. They were evidently objects
more of treasure than of utility, for they had been wrapped in cloth
and encased in bark, as was indicated by the remains of these per-
ishable materials preserved by contact with the carbonate of copper.
Copper Ornaments, — ^These were plates of thin copper, with
aboriginal figures worked in relief and similar in type to the repouss6
specimens found in the celebrated mound at Etowah. Owing to
the thinness of the copper and the great degree of oxidation that
had occurred these specimens were found broken and so brittle that
it was with difficulty they could be handled. These evidently were
also objects highly prized by their owners, since they had been en-
veloped first in some kind of leather, which in turn was wrapped in
a fine rush matting, and the whole encased in bark.
Several copper-sheathed wooden bosses were also found, similar
in type to those described by Dr. Jo^ph Jones from a mound in
Tennessee.
Galenite, — Four lumps of crude galenite, each about the size of a
hen's egg, were interred with the above specimens of copper.
Textile Fabrics, — The traces of textile fabrics that appear with
the copper specimens and preserved by contact with the copper
carbonate, are of the primitive aboriginal type. The cloth is of the
twined combination described by Mr. Holmes under group No. 2,
in his work on Prehistoric Textile Fabrics. The fibre is vegetable,
most probably of mulberry bark or cane. The rush matting is of
the simple interlacing type, but the texture is of a finer quality than
any hitherto found.
Pipes, — ^There were also found eleven pipes ingeniously carved,
some from stone others from clay. All present a distinct type.
One represents the head and body of an owl ; another, carved from
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104 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
soapstone, the figure of a sitting man with legs crossed and heels
against the buttocks. The bowl of the pipe is in his lap and held
between his hands. Hands, features, and head-dress are most skill-
fully delineated and the whole indicates a marked advance in the
sculptor's art.
Stone Implements, — Many stone implements, such as flint spear-
heads, celts, chisels, sharpening, and discoidal stones were found.
Probably the most perfect and remarkable specimen of its kind is
an extremely symmetrical bi-concave disk of* marble, having a small
uniform pit or depression in the center of each concavity.
-^ifo/Zr.— Perforated beads of pearl and shell were found in close
proximity to the remains of human teeth. The shell beads were
quite plentiful, and were of three types— some being prototypes of
the beads discovered in the great mound at Etowah.
These burials were all deposited upon a thin layer of sand upon
two general levels within the lower division of the mound. Upon
each level they lay in a circle just beneath hearths or fire-beds which
appear to indicate the subsequent performance of some ceremony
with fire over the spot where the burials had been made. None of
the interments can be considered intrusive since the homogeneity
of the lower soil in which they lay was undisturbed. *
Mr. Reynolds* report describing in full the features and contents
of this mound, will be duly published, with illustrations, in one of
the Bulletins of the Bureau of Ethnology.
H. W. Henshaw.
Os iNCiE. — In a series of eighty-two skulls belonging to the Ca-
nadian Institute, coming from various parts of the province of
Ontario, probably mostly Algonkins, I find that the Os Incce is
perfectly developed in only one skull; or in 1.22 per cent, (in
exact figures, 1.2195). I have not completed a careful examination
for the Os quadratum and allied varieties.
A. F. Chamberlain.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
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.■i.d V-. ^t- T. '-
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Digitized by VjOOQIC
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Digitized by VjOOQIC
THE
American Anthropologist.
Vol. III. WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL, 1890. No. 2.
THE CHEROKEE BALL PLA7.
BY JAMES MOONEY.
The Indian game of the ball play is common to all the tribes
from Maine to California, and from the sunlit waters of the Gulf of
Mexico to the frozen shores of Hudson bay. When or where the
Indian first obtained the game it is not our province to inquire, but
we may safely assume that the brown-skinned savage shaped the
pliant hickory staff with his knife and flint and twisted the net of
bear sinew ages before visions of a western world began to float
through the brain of the Italian dreamer.
In its general features, Indian ball play was the same all over the
country, with this important exception, that among the northern
and western tribes the player used but one ball stick, while in the
Gulf States each contestant carried two and caught the ball between
them. In California men and women played together, while among
most of the more warlike tribes to the eastward it was pre-eminently
a manly game, and it was believed to insure defeat to a party if a
woman even so much as touched a ball stick.
The game has a history, even though that history be fragmentary,
like all that goes to make up the sum of our knowledge of the
aboriginal race. The French, whose light-hearted gaiety and ready
adaptability so endeared them to the hearts of their wild allies,
were quick to take up the Indian ball game as a relief from the
dreary monotony of long weeks in the garrison or lonely days in
the forest. It became a favorite pastime, and still survives among
the Creoles of Louisiana under the name of RaquetU^ while in the
more invigorating atmosphere of the north it assumed a new life,
and, with the cruder features eliminated, became the famous Canadian
national game of La Crosse, It was by means of a cleverly devised
14 (ro5)
Digitized by VjOOQIC
106 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Stratagem of a ball play that the savage warriors of Pontiac were
enabled to surprise and capture the English garrison of old Fort
Mackinaw in 1763. Two years before the Ojibwa chief had sent
the ominous message: "Englishmen, although you have conquered
the French, you have not yet conquered us;'* but the warning was
unheeded. The vengeance of the savage may sleep, but never dies.
On the fourth of June, 1763, the birthday of King George of
England, the warriors of two great tribes assembled in front of the
fort, ostensibly to play a game in honor of the occasion and to de-
cide the tribal championship. The commandant himself came out
to encourage his favorites and bet on the result, while the soldiers
leaned against the palisades and the squaws sat about in groups, all
intently watching every movement of the play. Suddenly there
comes a crisis in the game. One athletic young fellow with a
powerful stroke sends the ball high in air, and as it descends in a
graceful curve it rolls along the ground to the gate of the fort, fol-
lowed by four hundred yelling savages. But look ! As they run
each painted warrior snatches from his squaw the hatchet which she
had concealed under her blanket, and the next moment it is buried
in the brain of the nearest soldier. The English, taken completely
by surprise, are cut down without resistance. In a few minutes all
is over, and a solitary trader, loolcing out from the garret where
he had been hidden by a friendly squaw, sees the ground covered
with the bodies of his slaughtered countrymen, while with yells of
savage victory their butchers are drinking the blood scooped up in
the hollow of their joined hands.
Let us turn from this dark picture to more recent times. In the
late war three hundred of the East Cherokee entered the Confed-
erate service, and in the summer of 1863— just a century after the
fatal day of Mackinaw — a detachment of them was left to guard
the bridge over the Holston river, at Strawberry Plains, in Tennessee.
But an Indian never takes kindly to anything in the nature of garri-
son duty, and time hung heavy on their hands. At last, in a moment
of inspiration, one man proposed that they make some ball sticks
and have a game. The suggestion was received with hearty favor,
and soon all hands were at work putting up the poles, shaping the
hickory sticks, and twisting the bark for the netting. The*prelimi-
nary ceremonies were dispensed with for once, the players stripped,
and the game began, while the rest of the Indians looked on with
eager interest. Whether Wolf Town or the Big Cove would have
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 107
won that game will never be known, for in the middle of it an ad-
vanced detachment of the "Yankees** slipped in, burned the
bridge, and were moving forward, when the Cherokee, losing all
interest in the game, broke for cover and left the Federals in pos-
session of the ground.
In 1834, before the removal of the Cherokee to the west, a great
game was played near the present site of Jasper, Georgia, between
the settlements of Hickory Log and Coosawattee, in which there
were eighteen players on a side, and the chiefs of the rival settle-
ments wagered |i,ooo apiece on the result.
There is a tradition among the few old traders still living in upper I
Georgia, to the effect that a large tract in this part of the state was I
won by the Cherokee from the Creeks in a ball play. There are no!
Cherokee now living in Georgia to substantiate the story, but I am'
inclined to put some faith in it from the fact that Coosawattee,
although the name of a Cherokee settlement, signifies " the old
country of the Creeks.*' The numerous localities in the Southern
States bearing the name of "Ball Flat,** "Ball Ground,*' and
"Ball Play** bear witness to the fondness of the Indian for the
play. To the red warrior it was indeed a royal game, worthy to be
played on the king's day, with the empire of the northwest for
the stake.
As speed and suppleness of limb and a considerable degree of
muscular strength are prime requisites in the game, the players are
always selected from among the most athletic young men, and to be
known as an expert player was a distinction hardly less coveted
than fame as a warrior. To bring the game to its highest perfec-
tion, the best players voluntarily subjected themselves to a regular
course of training and conjuring ; so that in time they came to be
regarded as professionals who might be counted on to take part in
every contest, exactly like the professional ball player among the
whites. To farther incite them to strain every nerve for victory,
two settlements, or sometimes two rival tribes, were always pitted
against each other, and guns, blankets, horses — everything the
Indian had or valued — ^were staked upon the result. The prayers
and ceremonies of the shamans, the speeches of the old men, and
the songs of the dancers were all alike calculated to stimulate to
the highest pitch the courage and endurance of the contestants.
It is a matter of surprise that so little has been said of this game
by travelers and other observers of Indian life. Powers, in his
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108 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
great work upon the California tribes, dismisses it in a brief para-
graph ; the notices in Schoolcraft's six bulky volumes altogether
make hardly two pages, while even the artist Catlin, who spent years
with the wild tribes, has but little to say of the game itself, although
his spirited ball pictures go far to make amends for the deficiency.
All these writers, however, appear to have confined their attention
almost entirely to the play alone, noticing the ball-play dance only
briefly, if at all, and seeming to be completely unaware of the secret
ceremonies and incantations — the fasting, bathing, and other mystic
rites — which for days and weeks precede the play and attend every
step of the game; so that it may be said without exaggeration. that a
full exposition of the Indian ball play would furnish material for a
fair sized volume. During several field seasons spent with the East
Cherokee in North Carolina, the author devoted much attention to
the study of the mythology and ceremonial of this game, which
will now be described as it exists to-day among these Indians. For
illustration, the last game witnessed on the reservation, in September,
1889, will be selected.
According to a Cherokee myth, the animals once challenged the
birds to a great ball play. The wager was accepted, the prelimi-
naries were arranged, and at last the contestants assembled at the
appointed spot — the animals on the ground, while the birds took
position in the tree-tops to await the throwing up of the ball. On
the side of the animals were the bear, whose ponderous weight bore
down all opposition ; the deer, who excelled all others in running ;
and the terrapin, who was invulnerable to the stoutest blows.
On the side of the birds were the eagle, the hawk, and the great
Tldniwd — all noted for their swiftness and power of flight. While
the latter were pruning their feathers and watching every motion
of their adversaries below they noticed two small creatures, hardly
larger than mice, climbing up the tree on which was perched the
leader of the birds. Finally they reached the top and humbly
asked the captain to be allowed to join in the game. The captain
looked at them a moment and, seeing that they were four-footed,
asked them why they did not go to the animals where they properly
belonged. The little things explained that they had done so, but
had been laughed at and rejected on account of their diminutive
size. On hearing their story the bird captain was disposed to take
pity on them, but there was one serious difficulty in the way — how
could they join the birds when they had no wings ? The eagle, the
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 109
hawk, and the rest now crowded around, and after some discussion
it was decided to try and make wings for the little fellows. But
how to do it ! All at once, by a happy inspiration, one bethought
himself of the drum which was to be used in the dance. The head
was made of ground-hog leather, and perhaps a corner could be
cut off and utilized for wings. No sooner suggested than done.
Two pieces of leather taken from the drum-head were cut into
shape and attached to the legs of one of the small animals, and
thus originated Tlameha, the bat. The ball was now tossed up, and
the bat was told to catch it, and his expertness in dodging and cir-
cling about, keeping the ball constantly in motion and never allow-
ing it to fall to the ground, soon convinced the birds that they had
gained a most valuable ally.
They next turned their attention to the other little creature, and
now behold a worse difficulty ! All their leather had been used in
making the wings for the bat, and there was no time to send for
more. In this dilemma it was suggested that perhaps wings might
be made by stretching out the skin of the animal itself. So two
large birds seized him from opposite sides with their strong bills,
and by tugging and pulling at his fur for several minutes succeeded
in stretching the skin between the fore and hind feet until at last
the thing was done and there was Tewa^ the flying squirrel. Then
the bird captain, to try him, threw up the ball, when the flying
squirrel, with a graceful bound, sprang off the limb and, catching
it in his teeth, carried it through the air to another tree-top a hun-
dred feet away.
When all was ready the game began, but at the very outset the
flying squirrel caught the ball and carried it up a tree, then threw it
to the birds, who kept it in the air for some time, when it dropped ;
but just before it reached the ground the bat seized it, and by his
dodging and doubling kept it out of the way of even the swiftest
of ^the animals until he finally threw it in at the goal, and thus won
the victory for the birds. Because of their assistance on this occa-
sion, the ball player invokes the aid of the bat and the flying
squirrel and ties a small piece of the bat*s wing to his ball stick or
fastens it to the frame on which the sticks are hung during the
dance.
The game, which of course has different names among the
various tribes, is called anetsd by the Cherokee. The ball season
begins about the middle of summer and lasts until the weather
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110 THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
is too cold to permit exposure of the naked body, for the players
are always stripped for the game. The favorite time is in the fall,
after the corn has ripened, for then the Indian has abundant leisure,
and at this season a game takes place somewhere on the reservation
at least every other week, while several parties are always in train-
ing. The training consists chiefly of regular athletic practice, the
players of one side coming together with their ball sticks at some
convenient spot of level bottom land, where they strip to the waist,
divide into parties, and run, tumble, and toss the ball until the sun
goes down. The Indian boys take to this sport as naturally as our
youngsters take to playing soldier, and frequently in my evening
walks I have come upon a group of little fellows from eight to
twelve years old, all stripped like professionals, running, yelling,
and tumbling over each other in their scramble for the ball, while
their ball sticks clattered together at a great rate — ^altogether as
noisy and happy a crowd of children as can be found anywhere
in the world.
In addition to the athletic training, which begins two or three
weeks before the regular game, each player is put under a strict
gaktHntay or tabu, during the same period. He must not eat the
flesh of a rabbit (of which the Indians generally are very fond) be-
cause the rabbit is a timid animal, easily alarmed and liable to lose
its wits when pursued by the hunter. Hence the ball player must
abstain from it, lest he too should become disconcerted and lose
courage in the game. He must also avoid the meat of the frog (an-
other item on the Indian bill of fare) because the frog's bones are
brittle and easily broken, and a player who should partake of the
animal would expect to be crippled in the first inning. For a simi-
lar reason he abstains from eating the young of any bird or animal,
and from touching an infant. He must not eat the fish called the
hog-sucker, because it is sluggish in its movements. He must not
eat the herb called attlnka or Lamb's Quarter {Chenopodium alburn)^
which the Indians use for greens, because its stalk is easily broken.
Hot food and salt are also forbidden, as in the medical gaktftnta.
The tabu always lasts for seven days preceding the game, but in
most cases is enforced for twenty-eight days — /. ^., 4x 7 — four and
seven being sacred numbers. Above all, he must not touch a woman,
and the player who should violate this regulation would expose him-
self to the summary vengeance of his fellows. This last tabu con-
tinues also for seven days after the game. As before stated, if a
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April 1890.] THE CHESMJEE k^^SMY. Ill
woman even so much as touches a ball stick on the eve of a game it
is thereby rendered unfit for use. As the white man's law is now
paramount, extreme measures are seldom resorted to, but in former
days the punishment for an infraction of this regulation was severe,
and in some tribes the penalty was death. Should a player's wife
be with child, he is not allowed to take part in the game under any
circumstances, as he is then believed to be heavy and sluggish in
his movements, having lost just so much of his strength as has gone
to the child. At frequent intervals during the training period the
shaman takes the players to water and performs his mystic rites, as
will be explained further on. They are also "scratched" on their
naked bodies, as at the final game, but now the scratching is done
in a haphazard fashion with a piece of bamboo brier having stout
thorns which leave broad gashes on the backs of the victims.
When a player fears a particular contestant on the other side, as is
frequently the case, his own shaman performs a special incantation,
intended to compass the defeat and even the disabling or death of
his rival. As the contending sides always belong to different settle-
ments, each party makes all these preliminary arrangements without
the knowledge of the other, and under the guidance of its own
shamans, several of whom are employed on a side in every hotly
contested game. Thus the ball play becomes as well a contest be-
tween rival shamans. Among primitive peoples the shaman is in
truth all-powerful, and even so simple a matter as the ball game is
not left to the free enjoyment of the people, but is so interwoven
with priestly rites and influence that the shaman becomes the most
important actor in the play.
Before introducing the ball dance it is in place here to describe
the principal implements of the game, the ball and ball stick. The
ball now used is an ordinary leather-covered ball, but in former
days it was made of deer hair and covered with deer skin. In Cali-
fornia the ball is of wood. The ball sticks vary considerably among
different tribes. As before stated, the Cherokee player uses a pair,
catching the ball between them and throwing it in the same way.
The stick is something less than three feet in length and in its gen-
eral appearance closely resembles a tennis racket, or a long wooden
spoon, the bowl of which is a loose network of thongs of twisted
squirrel skin or strings of Indian hemp. The frame is made of a
slender hickory stick, bent upon itself and so trimmed and fashioned
that the handle seems to be one solid round piece, when in fact it
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112
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
is double. The other southern tribes generally used sticks of the
same pattern. Among the Sioux and Ojibwa of the north the player
uses a single stick bent around at the end so as to form a hoop, in
which a loose netting is fixed. The ball is caught up in this hoop
and held there in running by waving the stick from side to side in
INSTRUMENTS OF THE GAME.
1 Iroquois. 3 Ojibwa. 5 Drum.
2 Passamaquoddy. 4 Cherokee. 6 RaUle.
a peculiarly dextrous manner. In the St. Lawrence region and
Canada, the home of La Crosse^ the stick is about four and a half
feet long, and is bent over at the end like a shepherd's crook, with
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.]
THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAT.
113
15
CHOCTAW BALL-PLAY DANCE IN 1 832— FROM CATUN.
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114 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. . [Vol. III.
the netting extending half way down its length. The Passama-
quoddy Indians of Maine use a stick with a strong, closely woven
netting, which enables the stick to be used for batting. The sticks
are ornamented with designs cut or burnt into the wood, arid are
sometimes further adorned with paint and feathers.
On the night preceding the game each party holds the ball-play
dance in its own settlement. On the reservation the dance is always
held on Friday night, so that the game may take place on Saturday
afternoon, in order to give the players .and spectators an opportu-
nity to sleep off the effects on Sunday. It may be remarked here
in parenthesis that the Cherokee word for Sunday signifies '* when
everybody does nothing all day long,** showing that they fully ap-
preciate its superior advantages as a day of rest. The dance must
be held close to the river, to enable the players to *'go to water **
during the night, but the exact spot selected is always a matter of
uncertainty, up to the last moment, excepting with a chosen few.
If this were not the case a spy from the other settlement might en-
deavor to insure the defeat of the party by strewing along their trail
a soup made of the hamstrings of rabbits, which would have the
effect of rendering the players timorous and easily confused.
The dance begins soon after dark on the night preceding the
game and lasts until daybreak, and from the time they eat supper
before the dance until after the game, on the following afternoon, no
food passes the lips of the players. On the occasion in question the
young men of Yellow Hill were to contend against those of Raven
Town, about ten miles further up the river, and as the latter place
was a large settlement, noted for its adherence to the old traditions,
a spirited game was expected. My headquarters were at Vellow
Hill, and as the principal shaman of that party was my chief inform-
ant and lived in the same house with me, he kept me well posted in
regard to all the preparations. Through his influence I was enabled
to get a number of good photographic views pertaining to the game,
as well as to observe all the shamanistic ceremonies, which he him-
self explained,* together with the secret prayers recited during their
performance. On a former occasion I attempted to take views of
the game, but was prevented by the shamans, on the ground that
such a proceeding would destroy the efficacy of their incantations.
Each party holds a dance in its own settlement, the game itself
taking place about midway between. The Yellow Hill men were
to have their dance up the river, about half a mile from my house.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] • THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 115
We started about 9 o'clock in the evening — for there was no need to
hurry — ^and before long began to meet groups of dark figures by twos
and threes going in the same direction or sitting by the roadside
awaiting some lagging companions. It was too dark to distinguish
faces, but familiar voices revealed the identity of the speakers, and
among them were a number who had come from distances of six or
eight miles. As we drew nearer, the measured beat of the Indian
drum fell upon the ear, and soon we saw the figures of the dancers
outlined against the firelight, while the soft voices of the women as
they sang the chorus of the ball songs mingled their plaintive
cadences with the shouts of the men.
The spot selected for the dance was a narrow strip of gravelly
bottom, where the mountain came close down to the water's edge.
The tract was only a few acres in extent and was covered with large
trees, their tops bound together by a network of wild grape-vines
which hung down on all sides in graceful festoons. From the road
the ground sloped abruptly down to this bottom, while almost over-
head the mountain was dimly outlined through the night fog, and
close at hand one of the rapids, so frequent in these mountain streams,
disturbed the stillness of the night with its never-ceasing roar.
Several fires were burning and in the fitful blaze the trees sent out
long shadows to melt into the surrounding darkness, while just within
the circle of light, leaning against the trees or stretched out upon the
ground, were the Indians, the women with their motionless figures
muffled up in white sheets seeming like ghosts returned to earth,
and the babies, whose mothers were in the dance, laid away under
the bushes to sleep, with only a shawl between them and the cold
ground. Around the larger fire were the dancers, the men stripped
as for the game, with their ball-sticks in their hands and the firelight
playing upon their naked bodies. It was a weird, wild picture,
not easily effaced from the memory.
The ball-play dance is participated in by both sexes, but differs
considerably from any other of the dances of the tribe, being a dual
affair throughout. The dancers are the players of the morrow,
with seven women, representing the seven Cherokee clans. The
men dance in a circle around the fire, chanting responses to the
sound of a rattle carried by another performer, who circles around
on the outside, while the women stand in line a few feet away
and dance to and fro, now advancing a few steps toward the
men, then wheeling and dancing away from them, but all the while
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116 THE AMEBIC AN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
keeping time to the sound of the drum and chanting the refrain to
the ball songs sung by the drummer, who is seated on the ground on
the side farthest from the fire. The rattle is a gourd fitted with a
handle and filled with small pebbles, while the drum resembles a
small keg with a head of ground-hog leather. The drum is partly
filled with water, the head being also moistened to improve the tone,
and is beaten with a single stick. Men and women dance separately
throughout, the music, the evolutions, and the songs being entirely
distinct, but all combining to produce an harmonious whole. The
women are relieved at intervals by others who take their places,
but the men dance in the same narrow circle the whole night
long, excepting during the frequent halts for the purpose of going
to water.
At one side of the fire are set up two forked poles, supporting a
third laid horizontally, upon which the ball sticks are crossed in
pairs until the dance begins. As already mentioned, small pieces
from the wing of the bat are sometimes tied to these poles, and also
to the rattle used in the dance, to insure success in the contest. The
skins of several bats and swift-darting insectivorous birds were for-
merly wrapped up in a piece of deerskin, together with the cloth and
beads used in the conjuring ceremonies later on, and hung from the
frame during the dance. On finally dressing for the game at the
ball ground the players took the feathers from these skins to fasten
in their hair or upon their ball sticks to insure swiftness and accuracy
in their movements. Sometimes also hairs from the whiskers of
the bat are twisted into the netting of the ball sticks. The players
are all stripped and painted, with feathers in their hair, just as they
appear in the game. When all is ready an attendant takes down
the ball sticks from the frame, throwing them over his arm in the
same fashion, and, walking around the circle, gives to each man his
own. Then the rattler, taking his instrument in his hand, begins
to trot around on the outside of the circle, uttering a sharp Ht / to
which the players respond with a quick Jfi-hY/ while slowly mov-
ing around the circle with their ball sticks held tightly in front of
their breasts. Then, with a quicker movement, the song changes to
Eht// and the response to HaJuH—Eh^! Hdkj^! Eht// Hdkil
Then, with a prolonged shake of the rattle, it changes again to
Ahiy^f the dancers responding with the same word Ahiy// but in
a higher key; the movements become more lively and the chorus
louder, till at a given signal with the rattle the players clap their
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 117
ball Sticks together, and facing around, go through the motions of
picking up and tossing an imaginary ball. Finally with a grand
rush they dance up close to the women, and the first part of the
performance ends with a loud prolonged Hu-u! from the whole
crowd.
In the meantime the women have taken position in a line a few
feet away, with their backs turned to the men, while in front of
them the drummer is seated on the ground, but with his back turned
toward them and the rest of the dancers. After a few preliminary
taps on the drum he begins a slow, measured beat and strikes up one
of the dance refrains, which the women take up in chorus. This is
repeated a number of times until all are in harmony with the tune,
when he begins to improvise, choosing words which will harmonize
with the measure of the chorus and at the same time be appropriate
to the subject of the dance. As this requires a ready wit in addition
to ability as a singer, the selection of a drummer is a matter of con-
siderable importance, and that functionary is held in corresponding
estimation. He sings of the game on the morrow, of the fine things
to be won by the men of his party, of the joy with which they will
be received by their friends on their return from the field, and of
the disappointment and defeat of their rivals. Throughout it all
the women keep up the same minor refrain, like an instrumental ac-
companiment to vocal music. As Cherokee songs are always in the
minor key, they have a plaintive effect, even when the sentiment is
cheerful or even boisterous, and are calculated to excite the mirth of
one who understands the language. This impression is heightened
by the appearance of the dancers themselves, for the women shuffle
solemnly back and forth all night long without ever a smile upon
their faces, while the occasional laughter of the men seems half sub-
dued, with none of the hearty ringing tones of the white man or the
negro. The monotonous repetition, too, is something intolerable
to any one but an Indian, the same words, to the same tune, being
sometimes sung over and over again for a half hour or more. Al-
though the singer improvises as he proceeds, many of the expressions
have now become stereotyped and are used at almost every ball-play
dance. The song here given is a good type of the class.
Through the kind assistance of Prof. John P. Sousa, director of
the Marine band, I am enabled to give also the musical notation.
The words have no fixed order of arrangement and the song may
be repeated indefinitely. Higanuyahi is the refrain sung by the
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118
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
women and has no meaning. The vowels have the Latin sound
and U is the French nasal un :
FIRST SONG.
p
S3:
3sg^=Jf= ?^^ ^
i
Hi'ganu'ya,
Hi'ganu'ya
Sa'kwili-te'ga
.\s'taliti'ski
As'taliti'ski
U'watu'hi
Ti'kanane'hi
Uwa'tutsGlii
Uwa'tutsCl'hi
I'geski'yu
Ti'kanane'hi
hi'ganu'yahi'
hi'ganu'yahi'
tsi'tftkata'sOni' !
tsi'tClkata'sGni' !
tsa'kwakilG'testi !
tsi'tftkata'sttni' !
a'kwakilG'tati' !
tsi'tfikata'sOni' !
tsa'kwakilCl'testi' !
tsa'kwakilfi'testi' !
tsi'tftkata'sOni' !— Hu-ii !
Which may be freely rendered :
What a fine horse I shall win !
I shall win a pacer !
I shall be riding a pacer !
Fm going to win a pretty one !
A stallion for me to ride !
What a pretty one I shall win !
What a pretty one I shall ride !
How proud Fll feel when riding him !
I*m going to win*a stallion ! — Hu-u !
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.]
THE CHEROKEE^ALL PLAY.
119
But sic transit gloria I — in these degenerate days the pacer is
more likely to be represented by a cheap jack-knife. Another very
pretty refrain is :
SECOND SONG.
SB
^^^^
:J=t
P
^E
=1^
3^
■i -i- -^^-J-
Yo^wida^nuwe^ Yo^widanu^-da'nuwe^
At a certain stage of the dance a man, specially selected for the
purpose, leaves the group of spectators around the fire and retires a
short distance into the darkness in the direction of the rival settle-
ment. Then, standing with his face still turned in the same direc-
tion, he raises his hand to his mouth and utters four yells, the last
prolonged into a peculiar quaver. He is answered by the players
with a chorus of yells — or rather yelps, for the Indian yell resembles
nothing else so much as the bark of a puppy. Then he comes
running back until he passes the circle of dancers, when he halts and
shouts out a single word, which may be translated, " They are
already beaten! *' Another chorus of yells greets this announce-
ment. This man is called the Talala^ or "woodpecker,** on ac-
count of his peculiar yell, which is considered to resemble the sound
made by a woodpecker tapping on a dead tree trunk. According
to the orthodox Cherokee belief, this yell is heard by the rival players
in tl^e other settlement — who, it will be remembered, are having
a ball dance of their own at the same time — and so terrifies them
that they lose all heart for the game. The fact that both sides alike
have a Talala in no way interferes with the theory.
At frequent intervals during the night all the players, accom-
panied by the shaman and his assistant, leave the dance and go
down to a retired spot at the river's bank, where they perform the
mystic rite known as "going to water,** hereafter to be described.
While the players are performing this ceremony the women, with
the drummer, continue the dance and chorus. The dance is
kept up without intermission, and almost without change, until day-
break. At the final dance green pine tops are thrown upon the fire,
so as to produce a thick smoke, which envelops the dancers. Some
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120 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOaiST. [Vol. III.
mystic properties are ascribed to this pine smoke, but what they are
I have not yet learned, although the ceremony seems to be intended
as an exorcism, the same thing being done at other dances when
there has recently been a death in the settlement.
At sunrise the players, dressed now in their ordinary clothes, but
carrying their ball sticks in their hands, start for the ball ground,
accompanied by the shamans and their assistants. The place
selected for the game, being always about midway between the two
rival settlements, was in this case several miles above the dance
ground and on the opposite side of the river. On the march each
party makes four several halts, when each player again **goes to
water*' separately with the shaman. This occupies considerable
time, so that it is usually after noon before the two parties meet on
the ball ground. While the shaman is busy with his mysteries in
the laurel bushes down by the water's edge, the other players, sitting
by the side of the trail, spend the time twisting extra strings for
their ball sticks, adjusting their feather ornaments and discussing
the coming game. In former times the player during these halts
was not allowed to sit upon a log, a stone, or anything but the
ground itself; neither was it permissible to lean against anything
excepting the back of another player, on penalty of defeat in the
game, with the additional risk of being bitten by a rattlesnake.
This rule is now disregarded, and it is doubtful if any but the older
men are aware that it ever existed.
On coming up from the water after the fourth halt the principal
shaman assembles the players around him and delivers an animated
harangue, exhorting them to do their utmost in the coming contest,
telling them that they will undoubtedly be victorious as the omens
are all favorable, picturing to their delighted vision the stakes to be
won and the ovation awaiting them from their friends after the
game, and finally assuring them in the mystic terms of the form-
ulas that their adversaries will be driven through the four gaps into
the gloomy shadows of the Darkening Land, where they will perish
forever from remembrance. The address, delivered in rapid, jerky
tones like the speech of an auctioneer, has a very inspiriting effect
upon the hearers and is frequently interrupted by a burst of exultant
yells from the players. At the end, with another chorus of yells,
they again take up the march.
On arriving in sight of the ball ground the Talala again comes
to the front and announces their approach with four loud yells,
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April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 121
ending with a long quaver, as on the previous night at the dance.
The players respond with another yell, and then turn off to a con-
venient sheltered place by the river to make the final preparations.
The shaman then marks off a small space upon the ground to rep-
resent the ball field, and, taking in his hand a small bundle of
sharpened stakes about a foot in length, addresses each man in turn,
telling him the position which he is to occupy in the field at the
tossing up of the ball after the first inning, and driving down a
stake to represent each player until he has a diagram of the whole
field spread out upon the ground.
The players then strip for the ordeal of scratching. This painful
operation is performed by an assistant, in this case by an old man
named Standing Water. The instrument of torture is called a kanuga
and resembles a short comb with seven teeth, seven being also a
sacred number with the Cherokees. The teeth are made of sharpened
splinters from the leg bone of a turkey and are fixed in a frame made
from the shaft of a turkey quill, in such a manner that by a slight
pressure of the thumb they can be pushed out to the length of a
small tack. Why the bone and feather of the turkey should be se-
lected I have not yet learned, but there is undoubtedly an Indian
reason for the choice.
The players having stripped, the operator begins by seizing the
arm of a player with one hand while holding the kanuga in the
other, and plunges the teeth into the flesh at the shoulder, bringing
the instrument down with a steady pressure to the elbow, leaving
seven white lines which become red a moment later, as the blood
starts to the surface. He now plunges the kanuga in again at an-
other place near the shoulder, and again brings it down to the elbow.
Again and again the operation is repeated until the victim's
arm is scratched in twenty-eight lines above the elbow. It will be
noticed that tvventy-eight is a combination of four and seven, the
two sacred numbers of the Cherokees. The operator then makes
the same number of scratches in the same manner on the arm below
the elbow. Next the other arm is treated in the same way ; then
each leg, both above and below the knee, and finally an X ^s
scratched across the breast of the sufferer, the upper ends are joined
by another stroke from shoulder to shoulder, and a similar pattern
is scratched upon his back. By this time the blood is trickling in
little streams from nearly three hundred gashes. None of the
scratches are deep, but they are unquestionably very painful, as all
16
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122 ^E AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
agree who have undergone the operation. Nevertheless the young
men endure the ordeal willingly and almost cheerfully, regarding it
as a necessary part of the ritual to secure success in the game. In
order to secure a picture of one young fellow under the operation I
stood with my camera so near that I could distinctly hear the teeth
tear through the flesh at every scratch with a rasping sound that sent
a shudder through me, yet he never flinched, although several times
he shivered with cold, as the chill autumn wind blew upon his naked
body. This scratching is common in Cherokee medical practice,
and is variously performed with a brier, a rattlesnake's tooth, a flint,
or even a piece of broken glass. It was noted by Adair as early as
1775. To cause the blood to flow more freely the young men some-
times scrape it off* with chips as it oozes out. The shaman then
gives to each player a small piece. of root, to which he has imparted
magic properties by the recital of certain secret formulas. Various
roots are used, according to the whim of the shaman, their virtue
depending entirely upon the ceremony of consecration. The men
chew these roots and spit out the juice over their limbs and bodies,
rubbing it well into the scratches, then going down to the water
plunge in and wash off* the blood, after which they come out and
dress themselves for the game.
The modern Cherokee ball costume consists simply of a pair of
short trunks ornamented with various patterns in red or blue cloth,
and a feather charm worn upon the head. Formerly the breech-
cloth alone was worn, as is still the case in some instances, and the
strings with which it was tied were purposely made weak, so that if
seized by an opponent in the scuffle the strings would break, leav-
ing the owner to escape, with the loss of his sole article of raiment.
This calls to mind a similar custom among the ancient Greek ath-
letes, the recollection of which has been preserved in the etymology
of the word gymnast. The ornament worn in the hair is made up
of an eagle's feathers, to give keenness of sight ; a deer tail, to give
swiftness; and a snake's rattle, to render the wearer terrible to his
adversaries. If an eagle's feathers cannot be procured, those of a
hawk or any other swift bird of prey are used. In running, the
snake rattle is made to furnish a very good imitation of the sound
made by the rattlesnake when about to strike. The player also
marks his body in various patterns with paint or charcoal. The
charcoal is taken from the dance fire, and whenever possible is pro-
cured by burning the wood of a tree which has been struck by
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April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY.
123
CHOCTAW BALL PLAYER IN 1 832— FROM CATLIN.
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124 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
lightning, such wood being regarded as peculiarly sacred and en-
dowed with mysterious properties. According to one formula, the
player makes a cross over his heart and a spot upon each shoulder,
using pulverized charcoal procured from the shaman and made by
burning together the wood of a honey-locust tree and of a tree
which has been struck by lightning, but not killed. The charcoal
is pulverized and put, together with a red and a black bead, into an
empty cocoon from whicn one end has been cut off. This paint
preparation makes the player swift like the lightning and invulner-
able as the tree that defies the thunderbolt, and renders his flesh as
hard and firm to the touch as the wood of the honey-locust. Among
the Choctaws, according to Catlin, a tail of horse hair was also
worn, so as to stream out behind as the player ran. Just before
dressing, the players rub their bodies with grease or the chewed bark
of the slippery elm or the sassafras, until their skin is slippery as
that of the proverbial eel.
A number of precautionary measures are also frequently resorted
to by the more prudent players while training in order to make
assurance doubly sure. They bathe their limbs with a decoction of
the Tephrosia Virginiana or Catgut in order to render their muscles
tough like the roots of that plant. They bathe themselves with a
decoction of the small rush (^Juncus tenuis) which grows by the
roadside, because its stalks are always erect and will not lie flat upon
the ground, however much they may be stamped and trodden upon.
In the same way they bathe with a decoction of the wild crabapple
or the ironwood, because the trunks of these trees, even when thrown
down, are supported and kept up from the ground by their spread-
ing tops. To make themselves more supple they whip themselves
with the tough stalks of the Wa'takH or Stargrass or with switches
made from the bark of a hickory sapling which has grown up from
under a log that has fallen across it, the bark being taken from the
bend thus produced in the sapling. After the first scratching the
player renders himself an object of terror to his opponents by eating
a portion of a rattlesnake which has been killed and cooked by the
shaman. He rubs himself with an eel skin to make himself slippery
like the eel, and rubs each limb down once with the fore and hind
leg of a turtle because the legs of that animal are remarkably stout.
He applies to the shaman to conjure a dangerous opponent, so that
he may be unable to see the ball in its flight, or may dislocate a
wrist or break a leg. Sometimes the shaman draws upon the ground
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April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 125
an armless figure of his rival, with a hole where his heart should be.
Into this hole he drops two black beads, covers them with earth
and stamps upon them, and thus the dreaded rival is doomed, un-
less (and this is always the saving clause) his own shaman has taken
precautions against such a result, or the one in whose beltalf the
charm is made has rendered the incantation unavailing by a viola-
tion of some one of the interminable rules of the gaktunta.
The players having dressed are now ready to **go to water" for
the last time, for which purpose the shaman selects a bend of the
river where he can look toward the east while facing up-stream.
This ceremony of going to water is the most sacred and impressive
in the whole Cherokee ritual, and must always be performed fasting,
and in most cases also is preceded by an all-night vigil. It is used
in connection with prayers to obtain a long life, to destroy an en-
emy, to win the love of a woman, to secure success in the hunt and
the ball play, and for recovery from a dangerous illness, but is per-
formed only as a final resort or when the occasion is one of special
importance. ' The general ceremonial and the principal formulas
are nearly the same in all cases. I have collected a number of
the formulas used on these various occasions, but it is impossible
within the limits of this paper to give more than a general idea of
their nature.
The men stand side by side looking down upon the water, with
their ball sticks clasped upon their breasts, while the shaman stands
just behind them, and an assistant kneeling at his side spreads out upon
the ground the cloth upon which are placed the sacred beads. These
beads are of two colors, red and black, each kind resting upon a
cloth of the same color, and corresponding in number to the number
of players. The red beads represent the players for whom the sha-
man performs the ceremony, while the black beads stand for their
opponents, red being symbolic of power and triumph, while black
is emblematic of death and misfortune. All being ready, the assist-
ant hands to the shaman a red bead, which he takes between the
thumb and finger of his right hand ; and then a black bead, which
he takes in the same manner in his left hand. Then, holding his
hands outstretched, with his eyes intently fixed upon the beads, the
shaman prays on behalf of his client to yHun Gtinahi'/a, the "Long
Man," the sacred name for the river :
**0 Long Man, I come to the edge of your body. You are
mighty and most powerful. You bear up great logs and toss them
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126 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
about where the foam is white. Nothing can resist you. Grant
me such strength in the contest that my enemy may be of no weight
in my hands — that I may be able to toss him into the air or dash
him to the earth." In a similar strain he prays to the Red Bat in
the Sun Land to make him expert in dodging ; to the Red Deer to
make him fleet of foot ; to the great Red Hawk to render him keen
of sight, and to the Red Rattlesnake to render him terrible to all
who oppose him.
Then in the same low tone and broken accents in which all the
formulas are recited the shaman declares that his client (mention-
ing his name and clan) has now ascended to the first heaven. As
he continues praying he declares that he has now reached the second
heaven (and here he slightly raises his hands) ; soon he ascends to
the third heaven, and the hands of the shaman are raised still
higher ; then in the same way he ascends to the fourth, the fifth,
and the sixth heaven, and finally, as he raises his trembling hands
aloft, he declares that the spirit of the man has now risen to the
seventh heaven, where his feet are resting upon the Red Seats,
from which they shall never be displaced.
Turning now to his client the shaman, in a low voice, asks him
the name of his most dreaded rival on the opposite side. The reply
is given in a whisper, and the shaman, holding his hands outstretched
as before, calls down the most withering curses upon the head of the
doomed victim, mentioning him likewise by name and clan. He
prays to the Black Fog to cover him so that he may be unable to
see his way ; to the Black Rattlesnake to envelop him in its slimy
folds ; and at last to the Black Spider to let down his black thread
from above, wrap it about the soul of the victim and drag it from
his body along the black trail to the Darkening Land in the west,
there to bury it in the black coffin under the black clay, never to
reappear. At the final imprecation he stoops and, making a hole in
the soft earth with his finger (symbolic of stabbing the doomed
man to the heart), drops the blackhead into it and covers it from
sight with a vicious stamp of his foot ; then with a simultaneous
movement each man dips his ball sticks into the water, and bring-
ing them up, touches them to his lips; then stooping again he
dips up the water in his hand and laves his head and breast.
Below is given a translation of one of these formulas, from the
collection of original Cherokee manuscripts obtained by the
writer. The formulistic name for the player signifies "admirer
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April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 127
or lover of the ball play.'* The shaman directs his attention alter-
nately to his clients and their opponents, looking by turns at the red
or the black bead as he prays. He raises his friends to the seventh
heaven and invokes in their behalf the aid of the bat and a number
of birds, which, according to the Cherokee belief, are so keen of
sight and so swift upon the wing as never to fail to seize their in-
tended prey. The opposing players, on the other hand, are put
under the earth and rendered like the terrapin, the turtle, the
mole, and the bear — all slow and clumsy of movement. Blue is
the color symbolic of defeat, red is typical of success, and white
signifies joy and happiness. The exultant whoop or shout of the
players is believed to bear them on to victory, as trees are carried
along by the resistless force of a torrent :
"THIS IS TO TAKE THEM TO WATER FOR THE BALL PLAY.**
** SgS ! Now, where the white thread has been let down, quickly
we are about to inquire into the fate of the lovers of the ball play.
They are of such a descent. They are called so and so, (As
they march) they are shaking the road which shall never be joyful.
The miserable terrapin has fastened himself upon them as they go
about. They are doomed to failure. They have become entirely
blue.
But now my lovers of the ball play have their roads lying down
in this direction. The Red Bat has come and become one with them.
There, in the first heaven, are the pleasing stakes. There, in the
second heaven, are the pleasing stakes. The Peewee has come and
joined them. Their ball sticks shall be borne along by the immor-
tal whoop, never to fail them in the contest.
But as for the lovers of the ball play on the other side, the common
turtle has fastened himself to them as they go about. There, under
the earth, they are doomed to failure.
There, in the third heaven, are the pleasing stakes. The Red
Tla'niwd has come and made himself one of them, never to be de-
feated. There, in the fourth heaven, are the pleasing stakes. The
Crested Flycatcher has come and joined them, that they may never
be defeated. There, in the fifth heaven, are the pleasing stakes. The
Martin has come and joined them, that they may never be defeated.
The other lovers of the ball play — the Blue Mole has become one
with them, that they may never feel triumphant. They are doomed
to failure.
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128 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
There, in the sixth heaven, the Chimney Swift has become one
with them, that they may never be defeated. There are the pleasing
stakes. There, in the seventh heaven, the Dragonfly has become one
of them, that they may never be defeated. There are the pleasing
stakes.
As for the other lovers of the ball play, the Bear has come and
fastened himself to them, that they may never be triumphant. He
has caused the stakes to slip out of their hands and their share has
dwindled to nothing. Their fate is forecast.
Sg6 ! Now let me know that the twelve (runs) are mine, O White
Dragonfly. Let me know that their share is mine — that the stakes
are mine. Now he [the rival player] is compelled to let go his hold
upon the stakes. They [the shaman's clients] are become exultant
and gratified. Yft ! "
This ceremony ended, the players form in line, headed by the
shaman, and march in single file to the ball ground, where they find
awaiting them a crowd of spectators — men, women and children —
sometimes to the number of several hundred, for the Indians always
turn out to the ball play, no matter how great the distance, from
old Big Witch, stooping under the weight of nearly a hundred years,
down to babies slung at their mothers* backs. The ball ground is a
level field by the river side, surrounded by the high timber-covered
mountains. At either end are the goals, each consisting of a
pair of upright poles, between which the ball must be driven to make
a run, the side which first makes twelve home runs being declared
the winner of the game and the stakes. The ball is furnished by
the challengers, who sometimes try to select one so small that it will
fall through the netting of the ball sticks of their adversaries ; but as
the others are on the lookout for this, the trick usually fails of its
purpose. After the ball is once set in motion it must be picked up
only with the ball sticks, although after having picked up the ball
with the sticks the player frequently takes it in his hand and, throw-
ing away the sticks, runs with it until intercepted by one of the other
party, when he throws it, if he can, to one of his friends further
on. Should a player pick up the ball with his hand, as sometimes
happens in the scramble, there at once arises all over the field a
chorus of Uwd^yi Guti / Uwdlyi Guft! " With the hand ! With the
hand!'* — equivalent to our own "Foul! Foul!** and that inning
is declared a draw.
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April 1890.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 129
While our men are awaiting the arrival of the other party their friends
crowd around them, and the women throw across their outstretched
ball sticks the pieces of calico, the small squares of sheeting used as
shawls, and the bright red handkerchiefs so dear to the heart of the
Cherokee, which they intend to stake upon the game. It may be
as well to state that these handkerchiefs take the place of hats,
bonnets, and scarfs, the women throwing them over their heads in
shawl fashion and the men twisting them like turbans about their
hair, while both sexes alike fasten them about their throats or use
them as bags for carrying small packages. Knives, trinkets, and
sometimes small coins are also wagered. But these Cherokee
to-day are poor indeed. Hardly a man among them owns a horse,
and never again will a chief bet a thousand dollars upon his favorites,
as was done in Georgia in 1834. To-day, however, as then, they
will risk all they have.
Now a series of yells announces the near approach of the men from
Raven Town, and in a few minutes they come filing out from Jthe
bushes — stripped, scratched, and decorated like the others, carrying
their ball sticks in their hands and headed by a shaman. The two
parties come together in the center of the ground, and for a
short time the scene resembles an auction, as men and women move
about, holding up the articles they propose to wager on the game and
bidding for stakes to be matched against them. The betting being
ended, the opposing players draw up in two lines facing each other,
each man with his ball sticks laid together upon the ground in front
of him, with the heads pointing toward the man facing him. This
is fir the purpose of matching the players so as to get the same
number on each side ; and should it be found that a player has no
antagonist to face him, he must drop out of the game. Such a re-
sult frequently happens, as both parties strive to keep their arrange-
ments secret up to the last moment. There is no fixed number on
a side, the common quota being from nine to twelve. Catlin,
indeed, speaking of the Choctaws, says that '* it is no uncommon
occurrence for six or eight hundred or a thousand of these young
men to engage in a game of ball, with five or six times that number
of spectators;'* but this was just after the removal, while the entire
nation was yet camped upon the prairie in the Indian Territory.
It would have been utterly impossible for the shamans to prepare a
thousand players, or even one- fourth of that number, in the regular
way, and in Catlin's spirited description of the game the ceremonial
17
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130 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
part is chiefly conspicuous by its absence. The greatest number
that I ever heard of among the old Cherokee was twenty-two on a
side. There is another secret formula to be recited by the initiated
at this juncture, and addressed to the " Red Yahulu** or hickory,
for the purpose of destroying the efficiency of his enemy's ball sticks.
During the whole time that the game is in progress the shaman,
concealed in the bushes by the water side, is busy with his prayers
and. incantations for the success of his clients and the defeat of
their rivals. Through his assistant, who acts as messenger, he is
kept advised of the movements of the players by seven men, known as
counselors, appointed to watch the game for that purpose. These
seven counselors also have a general oversight of the conjuring and
other proceedings at the ball-play dance. Every little incident is
regarded as an omen, and the shaman governs himself accordingly.
An old man now advances with the ball, and standing at one end
of the lines, delivers a final address to the players, telling them that
Une'^ian&'hi, **the Apportioner *' — the sun — is looking down upon
them, urging them to acquit themselve in the game as their fathers
have done before them ; but above all to keep their tempers, so that
none may have it to say that they got angry or quarreled, and that
after it is over each one may return in peace along the white trail
to rest in his white house. White in these formulas is symbolic of
peace and happiness and all good things. He concludes with a loud
^^ Hal Taldu'gwu'V **Now for the twelve!'* and throws the
ball into the air.
Instantly twenty pairs of ball sticks clatter together in the air, as
their owners spring to catch the ball in its descent. In the scram-
ble it usually happens that the ball falls to the ground, when it is
picked up by one more active than the rest. Frequently, however,
a man will succeed in catching it between his ball sticks as it falls,
and, disengaging himself from the rest, starts to run with it to the
goal ; but before he has gone a dozen yards they are upon him, and
the whole crowd goes down together, rolling and tumbling over
each other in the dust, straining and tugging for possession of the
ball, until one of the players manages to extricate himself from
the struggling heap and starts off with the ball. At once the others
spring to their feet and, throwing away their ball sticks, rush to in-
tercept him or to prevent his capture, their black hair streaming out
behind and their naked bodies glistening in the sun as they run.
The scene is constantly changing. Now the players are all together
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April 1899.] THE CHEROKEE BALL PLAY. 131
at the lower end of the field, when suddenly, with a powerful throw,
a player sends the ball high over the heads of the spectators and into
the bushes beyond. Before there is time to realize it, here they
come with a grand sweep and a burst of short, sharp Cherokee ex-
clamations, charging right into the crowd, knocking men and women
to right and left and stumbling over dogs and babies in their frantic
efforts to get at the ball.
It is a very exciting game as well as a very rough one, and in its
general features is a combination of base ball, football, and the old-
fashioned shinny. Almost everything short of murder is allowable
in the game, and both parties sometimes go into the contest with the
deliberate purpose of crippling or otherwise disabling the best players
on the opposing side. ' Serious accidents are common. In the last
game which I witnessed one man was seized around the waist by a
powerfully built adversary, raised up in the air and hurled down
upon the ground with such force as to break his collar-bone. His
friends pulled him out to one side and the game went on. Some-
times two men lie struggling on the ground, clutching at each other's
throats, long after the ball has been carried to the other end of the
field, until the ''drivers,** armed with long, stout switches, come
running up and belabor both over their bare shoulders until they
are forced to break their hold. It is also the duty of these drivers
to gather the ball sticks thrown away in the excitement and re-
store them to their owners at the beginning of the next inning.
When the ball has been carried through the goal, the players come
back to the center and take position in accordance with the previ-
ous instructions of their shamans. The two captains stand facing
each other and the ball is then thrown up by the captain of the side
which won the last inning. Then the struggle begins again, and so
the game goes on until one party scores twelve runs and is declared
the victor and the winner of the stakes.
As soon as the game is over, usually about sundown, the winning
players immediately go to water again with their shamans and per-
form another ceremony for the purpose of turning aside the revenge-
ful incantations of their defeated rivals. They then dress, and the
crowd of hungry players, who have eaten nothing since they started
for the dance the night before, make a combined attack on the pro-
visions which the women now produce from their shawls and baskets.
It should be mentioned that, to assuage thirst during the game, the
players are allowed to drink a sour preparation made from green
grapes and wild crabapples.
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132 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Although the contestants on both sides are picked men and strive
to win, straining every muscle to the utmost, the impression left
upon my mind after witnessing a number of games is that the same
number of athletic young white men would have infused more robust
energy into the play — that is, provided they could stand upon their
feet after all the preliminary fasting, bleeding, and loss of sleep.
Before separating, the defeated party usually challenges the victors
to a second contest, and in a few days preparations are actively
under way for another game.
The Powhatan Indians. — As a preliminary step toward an in-
vestigation of the ethnology of the tribes formerly inhabiting the
coast region of Virginia and Maryland, the writer last spring sent
out a number of circular letters of inquiry, calling for information
in regard to the number and condition of any persons of pure or
mixed Indian blood still remaining within the region designated.
The result shows that there is not now a native full-blood Indian,
speaking his own language, from Delaware Bay to Pamlico Sound.
The only Indians still recognized as such, living within this area,
are two small bands, remnants of the once powerful Powhatans,
residing on small reservations in King William county, northeast
of Richmond. They have long since lost their language and now
have probably as much negro blood as Indian, but still pride them-
selves upon their descent from the warriors of Powhatan, and have
recently applied for a share in the school privileges afforded by the
Government Indian school at Hampton. The larger band, on Pa-
munkey river, numbers about 1 20 souls, known as Pamunkeys. The
others live a few miles distant, on Mattapony river, and number about
fifty under the name of Mattaponies. Both bands are governed by
chiefs and councilors, with a board of white trustees chosen by the
Indians. The following extract from a letter written by William
Bradly, the chief of the Pamunkeys, gives an interesting statement
of their present condition. Errors of spelling and grammar have
been corrected: '*It is an Indian reservation in King William
county, Virginia, by the name of Indian Town, with about 120
souls. They subsist chiefly by hunting and fishing for a living.
They do not vote or pay taxes. We have a chief, councilmen, and
trustees, and make and enforce our own laws. I am chief of the
tribe, W. A. Bradly. There is a small reservation on Mattapony
river. J. M. Allmond is chief.*' James Mooney.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] REMARKS ON OJIBWA BALL PLAY. 133
REMARKS ON OJIBWA BALL PLAT.
BY W. J. HOFFMAN, M. D.
Thus far the greater number of Ojibwa Indians of northern
Minnesota have been slow to adopt the pursuits of their more civil-
ized neighbors, preferring to spend their time in fishing and hunting
and in gathering fruits and berries. In consequence of this mode
of life the young men generally possess great endurance and are in
excellent physical condition.
During the spring, summer, and autumn much of their time is
spent in athletic sports, not so much for plescsure as for thetiesire to
win the wagers of their opponents. The usual sports consist of
horse racing, running, and ball play. To become a good ball
player one must necessarily be possessed of speed and endurance.
Some of the local Indian runners have adopted an ingenious con-
trivance to aid in strengthening the muscles of the legs. While at
their ordinary avocations, they wear about the ankles a thin bag of
shot, sufficiently long to reach around the leg and admit of being
tied over the instep. This is removed when occasion requires, and
they claim that they feel very " light-footed." Two years ago one
of the champion Ojibwa runners walked twenty-three miles after
dinner, and next morning ran one hundred yards in ten and one-
quarter seconds, easily beating his professional opponents.
The total number of Indians living in the vicinity of White Earth
agency, Minnesota, is about two thousand, and it is easy to muster
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134 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
from eighty to one hundred ball players, who are divided into sides
of equal number. If the condition of the ground permits, the two
posts or goals are planted about one-third of a mile apart. Thus
one stake only is used as a goal instead of two, as is the rule with
the southern tribes. The best players of either side gather at the
center of the ground. The poorer players arrange themselves around
their respective goals, while the heaviest in weight scatter across
the field between the starting point and the goals.
The ball is tossed into the air in the center of the field. As soon
as it descends it is caught with the ball stick by one of the players,
when he immediately sets out at full speed towards the opposite
goal. If too closely pursued, or if intercepted by an opponent, he
throws the ball in the direction of one of his own side, who takes
up the race.
The uhuaX method of depriving a player of the ball is to strike
the handle of the ball stick so as to dislodge the ball ; but this is
frequently a difficult matter on account of a peculiar horizontal mo-
tion of the ball stick maintained by the runner. Frequently the
ball carrier is disabled by being struck across the arm or leg, thus
compelling his retirement. Severe injuries occur only when play-
ing for high stakes or when ill-feeling exists between some of the
players.
Should the ball carrier of one side reach the opposite goal, it is
necessary for him to throw the ball so that it touches the post. This
is always a difficult matter, because, even if the ball be well directed,
one of the numerous players surrounding the post as guards may
intercept it and throw it back into the field. In this manner a
single inning may be continued for an hour or more. The game
may come to a close at the end of any inning by mutual agreement
of the players, that side winning the greater number of scores being
declared the victor.
The ball used in this game is made by wrapping thin strands of
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] REMARKS ON OJIBWA BALL PLAY. 135
buckskin and covering the whole with a piece of the same. It is
about the size of a base ball, though not so heavy.
The stick is of the same pattern as that used at the beginning of
the present century by the Missisaugas, the Ojibwa of the eagle
totem of the Province of Ontario. (See cut, p. 134.)
The game played by the Dakota Indians of the upper Missouri
was probably learned from the Qjibwa, as these two tribes have been
upon amicable terms for many years' the ball sticks are identical
in construction and the game is played in the same manner. Some-
times, however, the goals at either end of the ground consist of two
heaps of blankets about twenty feet apart, between which the ball
is passed.
When the Dakota play a game the village is equally divided into
sides. A player offers as a wager some article of clothing, a robe,
or a blanket, when an opponent lays down an object of equal value.
This parcel is laid aside and the next two deposit their stakes, and
so on until all have concluded. The game then begins, two of the
three innings deciding the issue.
When the women play against the men, five of the women are
matcned against one of the latter. A mixed game of this kind is
very amusing. The fact that among the Dakota women are allowed
to participate in the game is considered excellent evidence that the
game is a borrowed one. Among most other tribes women are not
even allowed to touch a ball stick.
The players frequently hang to the belt the tail of a deer, ante-
lope, or some other fleet animal, or the wings of swift-flying birds,
with the idea that through these they are endowed with the swiftness
of the animal. There are, however, no special preparations preced-
ing a game, as feasting or fasting, dancing, etc. — additional evi-
dence that the game is less regarded among this people.
The Chactas, Chickasaws, and allied tribes of Indian Territory
frequently perform acts of conjuring in the ball field to invoke the
assistance of their tutelary daimons. The games of these Indians
are much more brutal than those of the northern tribes. The game
sticks are longer, and made of hickory, and blows are frequently
directed so as to disable a runner.
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136 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Notes on the Names of the Heavenly Bodies and the Points
OF THE Compass Among the Point Barrow Eskimo. — During our
stay of nearly two years at the U. S. Signal Station, at Point Bar-
row, we were able to obtain the names of a few of the more promi-
nent stars and constellations.
The sun is called su'kunyHy and the moon tu*tk&H, They have
no name for the pole star, but call the tail of Ursa Major tu'ktoruin,
which appears to mean ** the many reindeer/* A similar name for
this constellation has been noted both in Greenland and among the
Central Eskimos.
Arcturus is called sibwudli, and this star is the timepiece of the
seal-netters during the great night- fishing in December and January.
The position of this bright red star as it circles round the pole,
enables them to judge how the night is passing. Altair is called
dgru; Vega, agrulubwUk; the constellation Cassiopea, ibrosi, and
Orion's belt, ti/atsan. The Eskimo who gave me the above names —
he called me out one bright starlight night, saying, "Now, I will
tell you all the stars ** — called the V\t\dJ^e5 patu'kiurin, but Dr. Simp-
son, of the Plover, applies this name to the Hyades and Aldebaran.
This is probably right, for the word evidently means '*the sharing
out or dividing,*' as he says, and Aldebaran and the group of the
Hyades would very well represent the dead bear with the hunters
around preparing to cut him up, as he describes.
We obtained the points of the compass with more exactness than
Dr. Simpson did. They are : unani, in the north ; uMlytlHndmi,
in the northeast ; kdbani^ in the east ; kawaniku' na, in the south-
east ; pdniy in the south ; awamku^na, in the southwest ; dwaniy in
the west ; wdlunndmi^ in the northwest. The four cardinal points,
however, unani, kdbani, pdni, and dwani, are the ones most com-
monly used, and are not employed with great exactness. Fdni, in
the south, is always used for places inland, often with special refer-
ence to the hunting grounds at the rivers. A man starting for the
rivers always says ^^pauHanid'ktuHa,^^ **I am going southwards,^*
They have definite names also for the directions of the wind.
When the wind blows from any point between north and east it is
called ikuHna, when from any point between east and south, nigya,
A south wind is kiiuu'Hna ; one from the southwest, which brings
high water on the beach, is uHala ; while kunu'flna is the name of
the northwest wind.
John Murdoch.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] ON THE EVOLUTION OP ORNAMENT. 137
ON THB EVOLUTION OF ORNAMBNT^AN AMERICAN
LESSON.
BY W. H. HOLMES.
Much has been written upon that ever fascinating topic — the
evolution of ornament. All find within this .theme the touch of
nature that makes the whole world kin. The artistic sense is in
some degree developed in the minds of all men, and through its
intuitive and constant exercise art has become a rival of nature in
the realm of the beautiful — a realm not more fascinating to the
devotee of pure aesthetic pleasure than to the earnest but prosaic
student of the evolution of culture.
America's lesson concerning this subject has never yet been given
that full and careful consideration its importance demands, although
that lesson is inscribed in lucid language upon every page of the
native record. Of virile and spontaneous growth the art of embel-
lishment in America furnishes many evidences of the correct eye,
the facile hand, and the true aesthetic instinct of the native races.
It is impossible to trace back the idea of embellishment to its in-
ception, for the presumption is that it came up from the shadows of
the pre-human stage of our existence. It was probably first exer-
cised upon man's own person, but later extended to those objects
with which, from generation to generation, he had most constantly
and intimately to deal. In the early stages of culture its exercise is
not wholly an intellectual, but rather what I prefer to call an in-
stinctive act, and under favorable conditions it so remains far into
the stage of culture known as civilization ; it does not cease to be
measurably unerring in its action until intellect essays to perform
the work of instinct — until men begin to think out results instead
of feeling them out. The period that sees the full and free exercise
of purely intellectual methods witnesses the end of ornament as a
living growth. It is afterwards not a unit, a simple thing, a growth,
but a composite thing, the parts of which can by no possibility
come into full harmony with one another, for their relationship,
one to the other and each to all, depends not upon spontaneous or
instinctive impulses of the mind, but upon individual judgment,
18
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138 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
fallible and uncertain even in the most enlightened minds of this
enlightened age.
It is impossible to determine how far beyond the stage of aesthetic
evolution, here referred to as instinctive, native American decora-
tive art had advanced at the period of foreign invasion. A nation
pursuing the normal course of progress, free from intrusion of ideas
from distinct peoples or from higher planes of culture, long follows
the lead of instinctive promptings and habitual methods in all decora-
tive elaboration ; with such a nation the elements of ornament are
not independent or abstract conceptions transferable at will from
art to art ; they are essentially concrete, each art employing in its
enhancement only those motives or elements that arise within the
art, or that come to it from without for other reasops than those of
mere embellishment.
It is within the limits of this primitive or elementary period that
we may best begin the study of the evolution of ornament, for here
the phenomena are homogeneous and the processes simple.
In this paper I desire to call attention to that portion of the
aesthetic field which pertains to the surface embellishment of the
handiwork of man, and more especially to certain set or conventional
forms of decoration that, in advanced cultures, through obscure
processes of abstraction and transfer, have been adopted into many
branches of art and by many peoples. Such are the herring-bone,
the cheveron, the guilloche, the meander, the fret, and the scroll.
In America two arts are particularly concerned in the early stages
of the evolution of these designs, namely, the textile and the fictile
arts. By many writers architecture has been given an important
and probably a false place in its relation to the evolution of such
decorative motives, since many of our aborigines employ almost
every form of typical decorative figure in the two first named arts at
a culture period long anterior to that at which the native architecture
received the first touches from aesthetic fingers.
The elements of ornament utilized in these arts are, in genesis
and in character, of two well-defined classes. Those of one class
ari^e within these or cognate arts, and being of mechanical origin
are wholly geometric. Those of the other class are derived from
nature, and being delineative are primarily non-geometric, but the
geometric elements, especially in the textile — the antecedent art so
far as decoration is concerned — ^are first in the field and constitute
the beginnings, the first steps of decoration. Delineative^ subjects
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] ON THE EVOLUTION OP ORNAMENT. 139
primarily have an ideographic office and when finally introduced
into art as pure decorations 1 serve to supplement, to modify, and to
enlarge the realm of the geometric.
When these elements are once taken up by the embellishing fac-
ulty they are subjected to the action of two great forces, namely,
the mechanical forces of the particular art to which they belong, or
into which they are introduced, and the aesthetic forces of the human
mind, and it is the combined effect of these forces acting within
each art and upon each motive that finally produces the results which
we here desire to consider.
All mechanical elements yield readily to the action of these forces
and to all the changing requirements and conditions of art. Imita-
tive features yield somewhat less readily to the same agencies, but
they are gradually forced into unreal shapes by technical restrictions
and in the end assume a geometric character no less pronounced
than the technically born elements.
There arise here two questions : First, How do the technical ele-
ments inherent in the art develop into certain definite and highly
constituted forms? and, second. What part do delineative or nature-
derived elements take in producing or shaping corresponding re-
sults?
The desires of the mind constitute the motive power, the force
that induces all progress in art ; the appreciation of embellishment
and the desire to elaborate it are the cause of all progress in purely
decorative evolution. It appears, however, that there is in the
mind no preconceived idea of what that elaboration should be ; the
mind is a growing thing and pushes forward along the lines laid out
by environment. Seeking in art aesthetic gratification, it follows
the lead of technique along the channels opened by such of the
useful arts as offer suggestions of embellishment. The results reached
vary with the particular art and are important in direct proportion
to the facilities furnished by it. In this respect the textile art pos-
sesses vast advantage over all other arts, as it is first in the field, is
of widest application, is full of suggestions of embellishment, and
is inexorably fixed in its methods of expression. The mind in its
primitive, mobile condition is as clay in the grasp of such forces.
In considering the first question, how do the mechanical elements
of ornament develop into highly constituted forms? a close analysis
of the forces and suggestions inherent in the arts is necessary. It will
be observed that order, uniformity and symmetry are among the first
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140 THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
lessons of the arts, and especially of the textile art. From the very
beginning the workman finds it necessary to direct his attention to
these considerations in the preparation of his materials as well as
in the construction of his utensils. If parts employed are multiple
they must be uniform, and to reach definite results, either in form
or ornament, there must be constant counting of numbers and ad-
justing of spaces. The most fundamental and constant elements
embodied in the textile art and available for the expression of em-
bellishment are the minute steps of the intersections or bindings
which express themselves to the eye both by relief and color. These
elements exist fortuitously and without design on the part of the
artist. Now, the most necessary and constant combination of these
elements is in continuous lines or in rows of more or less isolated
figures ; the most necessary and constant arrangement of these com-
binations is in lines following the web and the woof or their com-
plementaries, the diagonals. If large areas are covered, certain
separation or aggregation of the elements, relieved or colored, into
larger units is demanded, as otherwise absolute sameness would re-
sult, a condition abhorrent to the aesthetic sense. Such separation
or aggregation is governed to a certain extent by the form of the
utensil constructed, but it conforms in every case to the construction
lines of the fabric, as any other arrangement would be unnatural
and impossible of accomplishment. Textile decorative elements or
units — vertical, horizontal and oblique lines, dots, and spaces —
therefore, combine and must combine in continuous zones or rays.
Other arts possess in a lesser degree the same classes of mechani-
cal elements, and their technique leads by similar methods to cor-
responding results.
All agencies originating with man that may be supposed of im-
portance in this connection, the muscles of the hand and eye and
the cell structure of the brain, together with all possible precon-
ceived ideas of the beautiful, are, in primitive stages of art, all
but impotent in the presence of technique, and, so far as forms and
methods of expression go, submit completely to its requirements.
Ideas of the beautiful, in linear geometic forms, are actually based
upon and originate in the consideration of technical forms ; hence
the selection for their beauty of certain figures developed in art is
but the choice between products that in their evolution gave taste
its character and powers.
From the foregoing we see that art furnishes various mechanically
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April 1890.] ON THB EVOLUTION OF ORNAMENT. 141
derived elements or devices which combine from necessity in certain
definite ways ; that these devices and the suggestions they furnish are
taken up and elaborated by the aesthetic sense. Through a considera-
tion of all the known influences of mind and art we can determine
the probable direction of this elaboration and the necessary charac-
ter of the results, but it is impossible to show that any particular
design of the highly constituted kind— the fret or the guilloche, for
example — was derived through a certain identifiable series of pro-
gressive steps ; for as in the evolution of natural forms— of species
of animals and plants — the steps of progress are obliterated ; and,
furthermore, when, we come to scrutinize the matter closely it is
clear that any given design may have developed along more than
one line and within the art of more than one race. The attempt
to give more than a possible or probable genesis of a particular
example of design must therefore be futile. Here, as in biotic
evolution, we must be content to point out general tendencies and to
discover general laws.
ITie second question, What ,part do delineations of life forms
play in the development of set decorative designs ? is . now to be
considered.
In a very early stage of culture most people manifest decided
artistic tendencies, which are revealed in attempts to depict various
devices, life forms and fancies, upon the skin or upon the surfaces
of utensils, garments, or other objects. These figures are believed
in cases to be of trivial nature, serving to amuse, but the weight of
evidence tends to show that such work is generally serious and per-
tains to events or superstitions. The figures employed may in cases
be purely conventional, but life forms afford the most natural and
satisfactory means of recording, conveying, and symbolizing ideas,
and hence predominate largely.
Figures haying associated ideas of a superstitious nature come to
be employed in all arts suited to their reception, and especially in
those branches of art, such as basketry and pottery, extensively
employed in superstitious offices.
Now, the fact has been noted and renoted that when natural
forms are introduced into art certain modifications of form and
character appear which are called conventions or conventionalisms.
Such delineations vary from the most literal presentation of which
the art and the artist are capable to forms so altered and abbreviated
by the forces of convention that they are no longer readily recog-
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142 THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
nized as of graphic origin. These phenomena are well known, and
when a large number of examples are considered they may be ar-
ranged ia a series extending from the most realistic forms at one
end of the line to the most mechanical form at the other, the latter
presenting to the uninitiated eye a meaningless device.
What is now needed is an analysis of the conditions and forces
concerned in this remarkable morphology. Confining our observa-
tions to the embellishing phases of art, we find that three principal
factors are concerned : First, the aesthetic desire in the mind of
man ; second, the technical forces and other mechanical agencies
concerned in the practice or utilization of the art ; third, the asso-
ciation of ideas.
ist. It is the aesthetic idea that calls forth the effort and presses
forward to further and further elaborations of embellishment.
2d. It is clear that each art is endowed with its own special
technique, and that figures acquired from nature must express them-
selves in terms of the several techniques. If the construction is
geometric the figures must take on a geometric character ; if plastic
a plastic character, and if graphic a graphic character. Other re-
lated mechanical agencies in a like manner take part in determining
the character of the results.
3d. Associated with each graphic motive, as I have already pointed
out, there is an idea, as otherwise it would not in primitive stages
have come into use at all. The expression of this idea may or may
not be essential or desirable to the decorator, but as long as it
remains essential 'or even desirable, the tendencies of the first and
second forces towards conventionalism will be restricted or neutral-
ized by this necessity of graphically expressing the idea. This
tendency to resist conventionalism constitutes what may be called
the conservative force in art. If the idea is strong all the tendencies
of art to trim, restrict, or expand will be in vain. The idea domi-
nates the technique. It is in this way that some national art char-
acteristics originate.
Nations practicing arts having pronounced tenchnical characters,
such as weaving and architecture, and possessing at the same time
few or feeble ideographic elements, will develop a highly geometric
conventional decoration, while nations practicing arts with less pro-
nounced techniques, such as modeling, sculpture, and painting, and
who make ideography a prominent feature, will have a system of
decoration characterized by imperfectly defined conventionalism.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] ON THE EVOLUTION OP ORNAMENT.
143
Now, what result follows the united and simultaneous action of
all these forces upon natural forms? It is plain that on the whole
the conventionalizing agencies are the stronger ; that they are to a
certain extent irresistible ; hence as the ideographic or conserva-
tive feature becomes gradually weakened, as it usually does with
time, they gain full dominance, and all forms then lend them-
selves with the utmost freedom to the enhancement of beauty under
the dominance of the mechanical agents and th^ demands of the
aesthetic sense.
A few examples will assist in making these statements clear. Let
us take an illustration from the textile art of Peru — from a body of
products belonging to one period and to a single community.
It may be assumed that fabric-making had long been practiced
and highly perfected by the Incas, and that geometric ornament
had been very extensively employed when the weaver first essayed,
prompted perhaps by aesthetic but more probably by superstitious
motives, to introduce the delineation of a bird into his fabric.
We will suppose that he attempted an ordinary graphic delineation,
but that owing to the difficulties — the restrictions of the technique
of the art — the best he could do is shown in Fig. i.
FIg.l. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Klg.4. Fig. 6.
The bird in textile art transformed by technical forces.
But this degree of elaboration could not be maintained under all
conditions of the practice of the art, and lines were simplified, parts
omitted, and forms accommodated to the technique and to the
geometric outlines of the original technical ornaments until they
could easily be introduced into or substituted for them. The bird
delineations were, reduced to bird-like figures which could be car-
ried serially along the zones to be decorated and with as much ease
as could the purely geometric figures. Thus these bird figures
merged into the elements or units of which current ornaments —
meanders, frets, and scrolls — ^were made up, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
It is plain also, whatever the life form introduced, that when the
delineation became reduced to this wholly conventional condition it
merged with equal ease into the frets and scrolls, becoming undis-
tinguishable from its otherwise derived neighbors. There is no
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144 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
doubt that in time this introduction of nature-derived elements led
to new forms and combinations and to great elaboration in purely
conventional design. It may be noted also that the idea associated
with the graphic bird may still be retained by the derivative geo-
metric unit, and possibly it (the idea) may even finally extend to
the whole line of units — to the current ornament.
In the plastic or the plasto-graphic arts conditions and processes
are quite different from those of the geometric arts. Let us take
one illustration of the introduction of a graphic design into vase-
painting. Here the technical forces are neither so pronounced nor
so rigid. With a free hand the decorator sketched in figures bor-
rowed from mythological art and elaborated them according to his
own idea of the demands of the subject and of the particular em-
bellishment desired. But strangely enough we observe marked and
peculiar conventionalisms some of which may be inherited or copied
from the sister art basketry, but most of which are due to the in-
herent tendencies of the art. Let us examine briefly the nature of
these. First. What effect has the shape of the vessel and the space
at command to do with the form and character of the design ? The
spaces available for ornament are the neck, the shoulder, and the
expanded portioil of the body of the vessel. These form three en-
circling zones, separated by more or less abrupt changes in the profile
of the vase. Now, any ordinary figure, as, for example, that of an
alligator, introduced into one of these zones does not cover its whole
extent, and a number of the figures must be introduced. This is
readily done, but the narrowness of the zone tends decidedly to
elongate each figure, and there is at the same time a marked, probably
a habitual, tendency to unify the design by connecting the series of
elongated figures in a linked or continuous line. It is not surpris-
ing, therefore, that such results follow as are traced in Figs. 6, 7,
and 8.
/l;^,^:^^:.! \/:>>:yys::^\ \oy\/\4T^/i>y\riD
Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8.
Alligator motive modified to suit varying spaces.
But again, if the spaces to be decorated are square or nearly so,
as often happens, the result is very different, for the figure must be
contracted and abbreviated in various ways to be included in the
space, Fig. 9.
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. April 1890.] ON THE EVOLUTION OF ORNAMENT. 145
f
Fig. 9.
Alligator Bgure crowded into a sub -rectangular space.
And again, if the spaces are round or oval, distinct classes of re-
sults are reached, as is shown in Fig. 10. In such a case the figure,
no matter what its nature, must be crowded or coiled up.
Fig. lu.
Reptilian figure modified by inclusion in a circle.
, It will be observed that the free-hand method of presentation,
even when there is no restriction as to space, results in conventions
peculiar to itself. Instead of the sharply angular character seen in
woven figures and to a considerable extent in engraved designs,
rounded forms and flowing outlines appear ; in place of the typical
angular meander, guilloche, and fret, appear corresponding forms in
curves — that is, the waved line, the twined or plaited lines, and
the scroll.
In free-hand as well as in geometric introduction of life forms into
ornament one of the most marked and constant tendencies is to-
ward greater simplicity. This is due in part to the great difficulty
of delineating the complex and subtile forms and partly to the
necessity of extreme simplicity of elements that must accommodate
themselves to eccentric spaces and to constant repetition in connect-
ing series. Other cultures than those developed on American soil
present kindred phenomena, though perhaps with less conciseness
and clearness tell practically the same story of the natural history
of conventional ornanient.
A few of the salient points may now be briefly reviewed. It has
been shown that in primitive stages of culture embellishment is
19
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146 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
practiced instinctively and in habitual ways and after habitual
methods, and that it utilizes elements inherent in the art practiced,
supplemented later by ideographic elements appropriate to that art.
That as intelligence increases habitual or instinctive methods give
way to more purely intellectual methods and ornament is abstractly
treated ; elements are freely taken from their original and consistent
associations and, under the supervision of what we call taste, utilized
in all arts in which embellishment is a feature, and it appears that
this use being guided by individual judgment is necessarily incongru-
ous and imperfect.
Owing to the peculiar conditions under which the American
tribes existed, their ornamental art, although abnormally developed,
had not passed so far beyond this primitive instinctive stage as to
confuse the evidence relating to initial steps.
In America are found all the important conventional designs
which characterize the art of the old world, and the oriental scroll
and the classic fret were more freely used by the simple barbarians
of the lower Mississippi and of the great Colorado plateau than
thdfiever were by the Greek or by the Assyrian.
It has been shown that all geometric designs may have developed,
and probably did develop, within the arts and from elements in-
herent in these arts ; that this occurred through the aesthetic desire
of the mind dominated by the mechanical forces of the arts, and
that in this country the textile and the fictile arts are most deeply
concerned in this evolution.
. It is seen that as a(t progressed animate forms were gradually in-
troduced into decoration, not because of their capacity to beautify,
but on account of ideographic appropriateness ; that these life forms,
when once within the realm of decoration, were acted upon by the
mechanical forces of art and gradually reduced to purely geometric
shapes ; that each one of these figures has in all probability a com-
plex genesis, since almost identical forms may have been evolved by
independent nations through any one or through many of the arts,
or that any creature extensively portrayed in any art of any people
may, through the mechanical conventions to which it was necessarily
subjected, be transformed by imperceptible steps into any one or
into all of the typical geometic designs ; and it may be added that,
so far as ideography and symbolism are concerned, it appears from
the above statement that ideas associated with any one of our conven-
tional decorative forms may be as diverse as are the arts, the peoples y
and the original elements concerned in its evolution.
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April 1890.] PRIMITIVE A RCHITECTURB. 147
CLIMATIC INFLUENCES IN PRIMITIVE ARCHI-
TECTURE.
BY BARR FERREE.
Climatic changes, variations of temperature and rainfall, differ-
ences of geologic structure and of animal and vegetable products,
the nature of the soil, and the topography of a country — in short, all
the factors that constitute environment — are the most important and
universal elements in determining the form and construction of the
dwelling. Sociological influences, such as mode of life, government,
mental status, and the like, are of importance chiefly in the earlier
stages of society, and their effects upon architecture gradually lessen
with the progress of civilization.
Climatic influences can be traced in our own buildings as well as in
those of the most primitive races, in the structures of the nineteenth
century as in those of prehistoric times. The builders of the great
churches of Europe pitched the roofs at a high angle to permit the
easy discharge of snow ; in the milder climate of Italy such a course
was unnecessary, and a lower or flat roof is found. Large windows,
to admit light and heat from the sun, are the rule in the north, while
small ones, to keep out the glare, are characteristic of the south. The
very mouldings are frequently cut so as to carry off" the water or to
protect delicate carvings placed beneath them.
The influence of climate and of environment extends to the art
of painting. The characteristic features of the various schools of
landscape painting are largely the reflection of the environment of
the artist. The history of culture and of civilization abounds in
illustrations of the influence of environment upon the arts and de-
velopment of man. In the earliest historical periods the most
advanced races dwelt in warm climates, or those in which natural
phenomena were uniforna. The great nations of antiquity, the
Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, all originated
and thrived in semi-tropical districts. In America the most ad-
vanced races, the Aztecs and Peruvians, were likewise inhabitants
of hot countries.
It is a remarkable fact that the centre of civilization has shifted
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148 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
from near the equator towards the poles. To-day the most progress-
ive races inhabit the temperate zone, while the stolid and stationary
ones are in the frigid and torrid where there is little variation of
temperature. It would almost seem that a diversified climate, one
of sharp contrasts of hot and cold, of rain and snow, was essential to
a progressive civilization, and at all events it is in such that the intel-
lect attains its most vigorous growth. In Europe the Germans and
English are in advance of the Italians and Spaniards, and in our own
country the people of New England claim to be ahead of their fellow-
citizens in the south. In whatever direction civilization is tending,
it is at least safe to say that a uniform environment throughout the
world would result in uniformity in thought, in art, in manufactures,
and in construction, and to variation in environment more than to
any one cause differences in these particulars are due.
Among primitive peoples the influence of environment on con-
struction is very marked, and to it differences can be traced which are
not noticeable among advanced races. First of all may be considered
the influence of wind. This was an important element in determin-
ing the development of the rectangular dwelling, which arose in a
desire to exclude it. In part of Tasmania, for example, the natives
used windbreaks, but in the western portion of the island, where the
weather was more severe, huts were built of wattle and daub. A
common method of gaining shelter, illustrated by the Australians
and the Coroads, is by placing the entrance to leeward ; very fre-
quently no wall at all is built on this side, the ingenuity of the
builders being confirmed to keeping the wind out on the others. The
Bachapin houses have a number of devices for excluding the wind.
They are surrounded by a fence of closely interwoven twigs and
branches, with an opening that conforms to the shape of the body,
being wider at the top than at the bottom. The house has two walls,
an outer and an inner one ; the former is of sandy clay, manure, or
grass, thrust in between poles that support widely projecting eaves.
The inner wall is without windows and encircles the portion of the
house used for sleeping and storing purposes. The roof is con-
structed in a particularly thorough manner of poles bound with
acacia bark, over which sticks are tied transversely, and covered
with a thatch of long grass or straw, which in turn is held down
by twigs inserted at both ends. Few structures exhibit so many
special expedients to protect the inhabitants against the inclemency
of the weather as this, but there is a very large class of dwellings,
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April 1890.] PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE. 149
especially in colder and more windy countries, that show attempts
to exclude the air. A favorite device is a single small entrance,
which was much used among the Indians of North America, and it
need scarcely be pointed out that for this reason openings are closed
with doors or shutters, or else a curtain, mats, skins, cloths, varying
with the products of the country or the wealth and knowledge of
the builders, is hung before them, and protection thus obtained not
only against the severity of the elements but from prying eyes.
In some tropical regions it is intensely hot by day and cold by
night, a condition of affairs that would naturally lead to the build-
ing of houses that could be opened in daytime and closed at night.
An interesting example is furnished by the houses of Samoa, that
have a low wall, the upper portion of which is closed at night
by screens. A similar end is sought in the low circular huts of the
Tartars of Central Asia. They are intolerably close by day, but at
night, owing to the piercing winds, are as comfortable as they are
necessary to the preservation of life.
In direct contrast to this system of construction, which is designed
to exclude the air, is the system arranged to give it free access.
The latter is to be found in all hot countries. Sometimes the dwell-
ing is open at one end ; at other times it is without any walls at all.
The former may be found among the Tannese, the latter among the
Adamese. The Tongans build in a similar manner, but with the
roofs descending nearly to the ground. The shed, of course, is the
form best adapted to permit the free circulation of air, and it ap-
pears in a great variety of forms. The Conibos Indians of Peru
supply an excellent illustration, building in the clearings under the
direct rays of the sun huge open sheds capable of accommodating
three families. In the Hawaii Islands a different custom prevails,
sheds being used in summer, and in the cold season dwellings with
low walls and high roofs.
Rain also has an important influence upon construction. As has
been noted, flat roofs obtain where there is little or no rain, pointed
or inclined ones where there is an abundance of it. While this
distinction is broad enough to be observed among all peoples, in
all parts of the world, and in all degrees of civilization, there are a
number of special expedients that have been devised by different
peoples as the result of local conditions or their own knowledge.
The Abipones, whose dwelling is so rude at to consist simply of a
tent of two poles and a mat, dig a trench to carry off the rain. The
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150 THE AMERICAN ANTUROPOLOGIST. [VqI. III.
granaries, which almost invariably form part of an African village,
are frequently furnished with projections that extend beyond the
walls to carry off the rain. An interesting series of examples of the
same regard for natural requirements is furnished by the stone
edifices of more advanced peoples. In Syria and Egypt, where the
rainfall is too light to be taken into account in construction, roofe
are flat ; in Greece and Italy, where it is light but periodical, the
roofs are pitched at a low angle ; still farther north, in central Eu-
rope, where rain and snow are abundant, the roof is sharply pitched-
The richly domed roofs of India may have originated through the
same cause. A leading characteristic of Indian architecture is a
succession of pilaster-like ornaments, surmounted with a dome or
roof covering. In a rainy district the simplest way to protect an
upright column or post is by a covering, and it is quite likely that
such a primitive arrangement may have suggested to the Indian
architect the idea of his many domed walls where each upright mem-
ber appears to have a roof of its own.
Differences in construction result from differences of temperature,
as when the summers are short and hot and the winters very long
and cold. Under these circumstances the usual method is to occupy
a different dwelling each season. Summer houses are light in struct-
ure while winter ones are built with a regard to warmth. The Chip-
pewa, for example, in summer use a primitive structure formed by
two poles meeting at the head, a ridge-pole, and a strip of- birch
bark. In the winter they build circular lodges accommodating two
families, covered with birch bark held down by sticks ; the entrances
are closed with blankets. The Comanches have arbors of green
boughs in summer and conical lodges of buffalo skins in winter.
The Indians of Cooper's creek use windbreaks of branches or stalks
of marsh-mallows in summer, and in winter rain and wind-proof
lodges of sticks covered with grass or weeds with earth or sand
thrown on the top and beaten down. In fact, the practice of build-
ing two kinds of dwellings for the different seasons is very common
among the American aborigines. A similar custom is found among
other peoples. The Ostyaks build huts of birch bark for the sum-
mer and for winter yurts of wood and earth, with floor sunk in the
ground for greater warmth. These winter houses are occupied by
several families, while the summer ones are used by one only. Other
north Asian peoples, as the Kamtschatdales and Tschutski, have
similar arrangements. The summer houses of the former are elevated
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April 1890.] PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE. 151
on posts, while the winter ones are partly sunk in the ground. The
Innuit live in tents of skins during the summer ; as the weather be-
comes colder they build combination houses of sheets of ice with a
roof of skins, and when the winter has finally set in they resort to
the typical house of blocks of snow and ice. The Todas, though
living in a warm region, have duplicate and triplicate dwellings
permitting a seasonal change of abode, a sort of primitive **town'*
and ** country*' house arrangement.
A change of dwelling is not, however, necessarily confined to
districts having strongly marked seasons, but is sometimes due to
change of occupation. The Brokpas of the Upper Indus build sep-
arate houses in the fields in summer, while in winter they use com-
munal dwellings. Thus each family is enabled to cultivate its own
piece of land in the warm season, while the whole tribe huddle to-
gether for greater warmth in the winter. The Zufii and other pueblo
tribes of New Mexico adopt a similar method. The Dakotahs
erect permanent communal dwellings of birch for the use of the agri-
culturists in summer, and at other times live in temporary lodges
of skins, thus reversing the process of the Brokpas. Temporary
tents of poles covered with mats are used by the Chinooks during
the fishing season, and permanent board dwellings at other times.
The leading climatic features that have been considered produce
what may be termed special variation in structure. These factors,
wind, rain, snow, and change of season, do not produce uniform
effects, some tribes building more with reference to one than to an-
other. They may, therefore, for the sake of convenience, with the
additional element of earthquakes — which cause readily recognized
features wherever they occur — be classed together under the general
term of secondary climatic agencies.
But there is a much more important element due to climate, and
that is the material employed. Difference in material is traceable to
the influence of climate and geological formation, and to this cause
chiefly is to be attributed the many variations in structure to be
found in all parts of the habitable globe.
The want of an abundant and readily procured building material
is productive of all manner of expedients. In a treeless country
the first resort is to skins. Numerous illustrations of this were to
be found among the North American Indians before their habits
were changed by civilization. The Comanches, the Dakotahs, the
Chippewayans, and the Snakes are but a few of those who used
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152 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
skins for the want of a better material, although it is to be remarked
that for the dwellings of nomadic tribes skins are the most servicea-
ble material. The Patagonians and the Arabs used skin tents be-
cause timber was scarce. The Mandans were extremely sparing in
the use of logs in their houses, for in the region in which they dwelt
trees grew only in patches, and being confined to the bottom lands
between the banks of the rivers were difficult to transport.
From the use of skins the next step was to the use of clay. The
rudest method is simply to spread it over a wood frame-work, as was
done in the case of the Mandan huts. This, however, implies only
a slight advance in technical skill. A higher stage is exhibited in
the houses of the Ashantee. These are formed of a slight frame-
work of wood, thickly coated with clay, and smoothed off to resem-
ble columns and paneled walls, a system not very unlike that of
the Chaldaeans and Assyrians. These structures form a sort of
stepping stone to the use of brick, which is at once the highest and
most developed method of employing clay as a building material,
though moulded terra cotta may be considered to be a still further
specialized form of it. The Afghan huts furnish an interesting
series. Some, as at Khandahar, are entirely of mud bricks, no
wood at all being used, not even in the roof. Others, as in the
Pischin valley, have roofs partially constructed of wood, which is
carefully carried in each migration. The settled Arabs of Asia
usually build with sun-dried bricks. In the case of more advanced
peoples there may be noted the use of brick in Assyria and of stone
in Egypt, the material in each instance being the most readily ob-
tainable. It would have been quite impossible for Assyria to sup-
port its population had it not been for the use of clay as a building
material. The arch was first used in treeless countries, or at least
where large building materials were not to be had, and may be said
to have originated in the use of clay. The adobe houses of North
America owe their origin to the absence of any other suitable ma-
terial or the difficulty of obtaining one.
Some of the above examples show peculiarities of constniction
due to the presence of certain kinds of materials only, but there are
instances where a choice has been made among several kinds of ma-
terials. Squier describes houses at the mouth of the Rio Ranees, in
Peru, that are built of a peculiar tough turf found in the vicinity.
Tule is used in the rainless districts of Peru and California. The
use of a certain abundant substance in one district results in pecu-
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April 1890.] PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE. 153
liar methods which are absent in structures in which they are not
used.
The use of stone as a building material resulted from the want of
a better and more easily handled substance. The first stage, where
some timber can be had, is to build a wall of stone and a wooden
roof. Such dwellings are found among the Maiwar Bhils. Stone
forms the fabric of the most important edifices of Egypt, and the
Doric temple itself, as M. Viollet-le-Duc has so ably shown, is a
stone structure admirably designed and executed and expressing in
the minutest details the adaptability of the material to the various
uses to which it is put. The size of the stone has an important in-
fluence on the appearance of the building and the method of con-
struction. In the stone pueblos of America three kinds of walls
were used— -one of alternate layers of large and small stones, an-
other of layers of large stones, and a third of rubble-work. Lin-
tels are found where large stones can be obtained and arches where
only small ones can be had. Incidentally, also, the use of small
stones led to the introduction of plastered or stuccoed surfaces.
The Egyptians built hugh columns of small stones, covering them
with plaster in order to produce the effect of monoliths. The grand
yet simple results of Greek architecture w.ere obtained chiefly by the
use of large materials, while the richness and variety of the Gothic
results from the constant use of small stones. The Romans relied
almost exclusively upon the plaster coating or veneer of costly mar-
ble laid on walls of ordinary brick for the full effects of their
buildings. The use of courses of stone naturally suggested the orna-
mentation of each row or of certain rows. Soft stone was still further
instrumental in the development of ornament. Lastly, it may be
noted that a taste for polychromy follows the presence of varied
colored stones. The rich appearance of the buildings in the vol-
canic districts of France furnishes ample illustration. Stone was a
substance not much employed by primitive builders, as its use im-
plied considerable technical knowledge, and no works of importance
could be accomplished except by means of the concerted action
which is only found in semi-civilized or civilized communities. A
number of stone huts are to be found in various parts of Europe,
dating from a remote past if not from prehistoric times, that are
scarcely more than stones piled up with more or less regularity.
Few of these exhibit half the care and labor to be noted in the
dwellings of the most primitive Africans.
20
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154 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Artificial building material came into use when no other was at
hand and when the tribe possessed sufficient technical knowledge
to produce it. The Kalmucks use frames of willow covered with
felt, made of a number of pieces fastened together with thongs or
hair ropes. The Khirghiz build similar tents, but made of reed
mats held down by bands embroidered with needle-work. These
mats are covered with an outer layer of felt, held in place by white
belts crossing each other in various directions. The yurtas of Mon-
golia are formed of a lattice of wooden laths brought from the
Khalka country, where they abound. The roof is of light poles, and
the whole is covered with sheets of felt that are doubled in winter.
The completed tent bears a close resemblance to a heap of earth,
an appearance that may have been sought as a protection against
enemies.
Sometimes a material is used because it is the most convenient,
though a better may be had with little trouble. The Chinese mud
hut is a case in point. It is composed of mud and millet stalks
and has numerous advantages in the eyes of the natives. The ma-
terials can be had on any plain for the mere picking up. In addi-
tion each man can build his own hut, an advantage not to be despised
where incomes are microscopic. When the floods and the rain
threaten to dissolve the habitation, the owner takes his family and
household goods to the roof, and as the water gradually disintegrates
the walls the whole structure sinks softly down, safely preserving
the precious freight. The ranchos of Chili, built of twigs and rushes
and plastered with mud, are constructed so as to be easily taken
down and rebuilt.
Closely allied to houses built entirely of mud are those constructed
of wattle and daub. Such dwellings are of frequent occurrence,
and illustrations are supplied by the Mundrucus of Brazil, the Arau-
canians, the Malagasys, the Gonds, and many others. In the north-
ern interior of Australia the natives constructed huts of boughs
covered with grass and leaves, with a thick outer covering of mud.
The Fuegians sometimes placed turf above their shelters of skins,
bark, or grass, and the dwellings of the Ostayks, theTschutschi, and
the Oonalashka are all covered with earth. Such structures are to
be found not only where better material is waating, but where the
people are too indolent to devise better methods.
Further variations in buildings are du2 to the fact that a peculiar
material is within reach which gives a character to the architecture.
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April 1890.] PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURB. 155
The light and graceful character of the dwellings of eastern Asia is
due to the abundance of bambu. Among the people using this
eminently adaptable material are the Nagas, the Khryings, the Jav-
anese, the Sumatrans, and a host of others. It is the foundation of
all east Asian building, and though it reached its highest form and
fullest development with the Chinese and Japanese the less advanced
races well understood its capabilities and made good use of it. The
Javanese houses are built of a frame-work of bambu and poles cov-
ered with plaited bambus or reeds. The roofs are of reeds, leaves,
or pieces of bambu split and applied to each other by their alternate
concave and convex surfaces. The floors are of split bambus. The
Sumatran dwellings are largely built of palupo, which is bambu
opened and made flat by notching the joints on the outside, cutting
away the insides, and drying the shell in the sun. It is sometimes
fastened with nails, sometimes woven together. The floors are of
bambu, with an upper layer of split ones. The roofs are varied.
Some are covered with palm leaves, formed into sheets, doubled at
one end over a lath and tied to the rafters ; others are of narrow
split bambus laid so ^ to form a triple covering ; others are covered
with a substance resembling horse-hair ; and still others have split
bambus arranged as in the Javanese houses. The hrgh arched roofs
of the New Guinea houses are due to the elasticity of the bambu.
It is generally used throughout the east for floors even if in no other
part of the dwelling, as it is more readily worked than palm wood.
All these structures exhibit the simplest and most obvious applica-
tions of bambu to the needs of construction, but the full develop-
ment, as seen in the houses of China and Japan, is so close to the
methods of civilization as to remove them from the scope of this
paper.
Other trees tend to the formation of characteristic structures.
Palm leaves are extensively used for thatching wherever they are
found. In the Brierly Islands the houses are built of slender poles
lashed together with rattans and thatched with grass which still has
the roots attached to it, over which are placed a few leaves of the
cocoa palm. In the dwellings of the New Zealanders and the
Waraus palm is also employed as a thatch. The Arawaks of Guiana
build their houses entirely of palm. Grass is also very generally
used for thatching purposes.
Bark, when it can be obtained in sufficiently large pieces, forms
an excellent building material. Examples of its use have already
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156 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. 111.
been noted in the shelters of the North American Indians and the
Australians. In high latitudes a variety of expedients are resorted
to in order to supply what nature has denied. * Snow and ice are
pressed into service when nothing else is to be had, and form good
and serviceable shelters. < No useful substance is permitted to be
wasted, and driftwood is treasured when it can be obtained. The
Innuit usually build with snow when they can get no drift-wood.
The bones of animals are sometimes used, so pushed for means of
shelter are those living in the extreme north. The Tschutski build
a frame-work of wood and whalebones, and other northern people
construct dwellings entirely of the bones of whales, walruses, etc.
These structures are circular, dome-shaped huts of ten or eighteen
feet diameter ; the lower part is of stone, the upper of bones, that
gradually incline inwards, meeting at the top. The crevices and
the outside are covered with earth, and in the winter an additional
layer of snow is carefully spread over all.
Apart from the use of animal skins and bones in building the
dwelling there are certain structural devices intended to prevent the
living animal from interfering with the comfort and safety of man.
Some authorities affirm that the abundance of reptiles in the island
of Timour led to the custom of elevating the houses on posts. In
the dwellings of the Brierly Islands, which are also elevated, a special
device is introduced as a guard against rats, consisting of an oval
disk placed between the joist and the post. In some parts of Africa
it has been stated that the natives build their huts in trees as a pro-
tection against lions. Nearly all African granaries are elevated on
ix)sts to keep the grain safe from the ravages of rats. The records
of African travel abound with accounts of the ravages of the dreaded
white ants and the care that must be taken to protect everything
edible in the way of wood or other substances.
Some few of the leading characteristics of primitive architecture
have been passed in review. Viewing the subject from the stand-
point of the influence of the environment only, many features which
are to be attributed to sociological influences have been omitted.*
Limiting ourselves to this position, it is evident that however spontan-
eous architecture may be at the present day, however much it may be
the creation of the fancy, the expression of a refined and cultivated
*See " Sociological Influencesin Primitive Architecture,*' American Naturalist,
January, 1888.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE. 157
taste, a desire for the odd or the beautiful in its earliest conception,
its rudest forms, it was nothing more than the action of the environ-
ment on the mind of man. If the climate was warm he built him-
self a dwelling that gave him as much air as possible; if it was cold
all his resources were devoted towards obtaining heat. If it rained
regularly or constantly he gave his roofs a sharp incline ; if there
was no rain the roofs were flat and afforded a pleasant place of resort
in the cool of the evening. If there was no stone he made bricks,
and if a pliable wood was at hand he devised a light form of structure
the very ornamentation of whidi was in harmony with it.
In primitive architecture there was no effort for effect — no loss of
material ; primitive man had neither the time nor the intellect to
spend on structures that are dictated solely by fashion or caprice. He
advances slowly and with caution, evolving beforehand his methods
of procedure. From natural shelters like caves he gradually pro-
gresses through the T^rious stages of a single windbreak to a partially
closed hut, and finally to the perfected form of an enclosed dwell-
ing. In the case of sedentary tribes these dwellings are constructed
with great care and skill, and sometimes attempts at ornamentation
are made. With nomadic tribes there is less architectural advance-
ment, but each applies his knowledge and means as best he may.
To us, with our comfortable homes, our huge hotels, our gigantic
office buildings, our churches, our theaters, our railway stations, our
factories, our elevators, our steam heat, our electric light, and the
thousand and one conveniences and necessities of modern life, the
structures of primitive peoples appear meager and insufficient. It
should be remembered, however, that many of our modern con-
veniences are intended to supply artificial wants and that the neces-
sities of to-day were unknown the day before yesterday. The hut of
the Adamese doubtless answers all his ideas of comforts and is em-
inently adapted to the life he leads. We, on the other hand, are
constantly striving for changes and improvements and are never
satisfied with the best results we can obtain. Primitive architecture
may be stationary — it may exist in forms to-day that were employed
thousands of years ago — ^but it is the faithful reflection of the envi-
ronment and is thoroughly suited to the uses to which it is put.
No further confirmation of this is needed than the fact that when
Europeans take up their abode in tropical countries they follow the
native methods of architecture so far as a prejudiced judgment will
permit.
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158 THK AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [VoL 111.
Nothing can be more rash than to attempt to formulate a law of
architecture. The records of primitive architecture illustrate no
law other than the action of environment and sociology. We may
indeed say that man uses the best material known to him in the
best way he can. This is, in fact, but one of the great principles
underlying all architecture, both primitive and civilized, though
perhaps it is best illustrated in primitive forms.
Brasilian Indians. — An important paper on the Indians of Bra-
silhas recently appeared in Archivio per V antropologia e la etnologia
(the journal of the Italian Society of anthropology, ethnology and
comparative psychology, published at Florence). The paper is by
Dr. Alfonso Lomonaco, and is entitled '*Sulle razze indigene del
Brasile, studio storico.'* It occupies pages 17-92 and 187-270 of
the first two numbers of the current volume (v. 19, 1889) of the
Archivio, The paper begins with an introduction, and is divided
into four sections, as follows: part i, "The native races at the time
of the discovery of Brasil," treating of the Tupy, the Tapuyas
and the Aymores or Botocudos ; part 2, *' Brief remarks on the his-
tory of the natives of Brasil from the discovery of the country to
the present epoch; ** part 3, "The present native tribes of Brasil,"
treated under the following headings: "The present number of
savages in Brasil ; their subdivisions, based on the classification of
Martins ; the Tupis ; the Ges or Crans \ the Goytorkazes ; the Gue-
rens or Crens; the Gucks or Cocos; the Parecis or Parexis ; the
Guaycurus; the Arnaks; the tribes of the Rio Puriis studied by
Chandless ; the tribes of the Xingii and of the upper Amazon ;
mixed races of Brasil; domesticated Indians; the future of the
present natives; conclusions;'* part 4, "Language and literature
of the natives," including twenty-three Tupi legends collected by
Dr. Cortes de Magelhaes.
A short bibliography is appended to the paper and a plate of
typical Brasilian Indians.
John Murdoch.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE t)LKCRANON PERFORATION. 159
THE OLECRANON PERFORATION.
BY DR. D. S. LAMB.
In a collection of sixty-nine skeletons and parts of skeletons of
prehistoric Arizona Indians from the valley of the Salado I found
that 54 per cent, of the eighty-nine humeri showed the olecranon
perforation ; forty-three of the right side, with nineteen foramina,
or 44 per cent., and forty-six of the left side, with twenty-nine
foramina, or 63 per cent.
In another collection from ruins of the ancient Seven Cities of
Cibola, near Zuni, New Mexico, were sixty-one humeri, with twelve
foramina^ or 20 percent. ; thirty right humeri showed two foramina,
or 7 per cent. ; thirty-one left, ten foramina, or 32 per cent.
In a third collection of Indian bones from mounds in different
parts of the United States, including New York, Maryland, Illinois,
Wisconsin, and Dakota, there are sixty-two humeri, with seventeen
foramina, or 20 per cent. ; thirty-five right, with seven foramina, or
20 per cent., and twenty-seven left, with ten foramina, or 37 per
cent.
The Army Medical Museum also contains forty-eight skeletons
from nineteen of the existing tribes of Indians. Of these ninety-
six humeri the foramen is present in but awe, or 5 per cent., a
remarkable contrast with the prehistoric races. One of these skele-
tons showing the foramen is of a Sioux only about twenty years old.
There are eight skeletons of negroes and mulattoes with but one
olecranon foramen, or 6 per cent. Standing alone, this would seem
to favor the statement of Pruner-Bey and others that the foramen is
not present in the negro race. There is a skeleton of a Chinese
woman showing the foramen present on both sides, and one of a
Frenchman showing it on one side.
In the pathological series of the Museum are 298 humeri, with
twenty-two foramina, or 7.5 per cent. Of these humeri 160 are of
the right side, with six foramina, or nearly 4 per cent., and 138
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160 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
left, with sixteen foramina, or nearly 12 per cent. These bones are
nearly all from soldiers in the military service, and principally
white, thus disposing of the suggestion that the foramina are found
only in the female sex. One of the injured bones is from a Mexi-
can boy.
With few exceptions the skeletons in the Museum are either in-
fantile or adult. It is the more interesting, therefore, to know that
of the adolescents two show the foramen.
In my own private collection of humeri, twenty in number, there
are six foramina, or 30 per cent. ; eleven are of the right side, with
two foramina, or 18 per cent., and nine of the left, with four fo-
ramina, or 44 per cent. These humeri were obtained from cadavers
used in dissection, and as most cadavers in this locality are of
negroes or mulattoes it is reasonable to suppose that most of these
humeri are from the negro race.
A review of the humeri in the above collections shows that the
foramen was found in the proportion of 13 on the right side to 27.5
on the left, or more than twice as often on the left side.
The examination covered nearly 650 humeri and seemed to estab-
lish—
ist. The greater frequency of the foramen in the ancient peoples.
2d. Its greater frequency on the left side.
3d. Its occurence in adolescents, as well as mature individuals,
in both sexes, and not confined to any one race.
The most important question which arises is as to the use and
significance of the foramen. It is obvious that the more the coro-
noid or olecranon fossae are deepened the thinner becomes the par-
tition, and a step further produces a perforation. This deepening
and perforation increase the extent of flexion and extension of the
forearm. What was there in the habits of the prehistoric and an-
cient peoples which needed this increased flexion or extension and
resulted in the foramen ? and why should this be more ft-equent on
one side, and that side the left ?
To arrive at a solution of these questions it seemed necessary
first to ascertain in regard to its presence in the lower animals and
compare the results with their habits.
I accordingly examined the specimens displayed in the United
States National and Army Medical Museums. Some perforations
appear to have occurred in the preparation of the specimens, and
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE OLECRANON PERFORATION. 161
these I did not count. There was seldom any difficulty in distin-
guishing the true foramen, which always has a smoothly rounded,
usually oval, margin; no such opening could be produced by acci-
dent. Species are illustrated in museums by single specimens ; oc-
casionally by two or more. The presence or absence of the foramen
in any one specimen cannot be taken as an index for the species,
since it may be simply an individual variation ; but where specimens
of several species of the same genus show it, we are justified in as-
suming its common occurrence in those species, if not in the genus.
When the foramen is large, especially when the animal is young
or small, I think we have a more certain indication of its common
occurrence in that species than where the opening is small and there-
fore more possibly a variation. I believe that the foramen is formed
in the latter part of the period of development of the individual ;
it is much more rarely found in the early part, although I cannot be
so certain of this, because the museums contain but few skeletons of
the earlier periods.
The foramen has not been seen in any but the Mammalia.
The testimony for the anthropoid apes is as follows: Several
authors (29, 42, 49) have noted it in the chimpanzee. Hartmann,
however, found it but once in four cases, and then on the left side.
I have seen one specimen. It has been seen in the gorilla (47, 48,
49). In Kneeland's case it was only on the right side. Hartmann
found it twice in four individuals. I have seen two specimens, one
an old female-with the openings, the other an old male without
them. Hartmann failed to find it in the orang-utan, and Des-
moulins says it does not occur. I have seen three specimens, in ,
two of which it was present and the openings were large. Mivart
says it is sometimes present in the gibbons {Hylobates)\ Desmoulins
that it is not found in H. syndactylus. It was absent from t\^'o
specimens, a H, lar and H, leuciscus, which I have examined.
The old-world monkeys include more than a hundred species.
The testimony for the Colobimz is negative. Meckel says it is pres-
ent in the CercopitheciruB \ Mivart that it is found sometimes in the
green monkey. I have seen it in this and also a vervet, but only
on the right side. Meckel says it is present in the white-crowned
mangabey ; it was absent from the sooty mangabey. Mivart says it
is sometimes present in the genus Macacus, I have seen it in the
toque monkey. It was absent from the bonnet monkey and black
21
Digitized by VjOOQIC
162 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
ape. The best testimony is for the dogheaded baboons. Meckel
found it in the Arabian baboon. I have seen it in the anubis and
in one of two chacmas. Meckel says it is present in the mandrill,
and I have seen it in three specimens, one a young animal, and both
the foramina large;
Of over a hundred species of new-world monkeys and marmo-
sets I have seen thirteen specimens representing nine species, and
did not find any foramina ; neither do authors mention their pres-
ence.
It was absent from two specimens of Indris, from the ruffed and
slow lemur. Blainville and Mivart found it in the slender lemur,
and I have seen two specimens which showed it ; in one the open-
ings were very large. Mivart says it is sometimes present in the
awantibo.
Passing to the Camivora, Blainville says it is not present in the
cats, about sixty-six species, except the pampas cat of South America.
I have seen it in one ocelot on both sides, but in specimens repre-
senting eight other species it was absent. Blainville mentions its
presence and I have seen it in some of the civets. A specimen of
the aard-wolf showed it. Meckel and Arens say it is present in the
hyenas, including the fossils. Blainville found it in the striped
hyena, and I have also seen it. Filhol shows it in Hycenodon,
Blainville, Meckel, and Arens all speak of its constancy in the
dog. All the species I have seen showed it, the only exceptions
being an Eskimo-dog and a Dachshund,
Of seventeen out of nearly a hundred species of weasels the fo-
ramen was found, so far as I know, only in four — tayra, Mellivora
CapensiSy Mydaus, and American badger. It does not appear to
have been seen in the raccoons or bears, nor in any of the aquatic
Carnivora.
The Ungulata.— It is absent from the ox, sheep, goat, giraffe, and
camel, and from the deer, except perhaps the roe, in which Arens
has seen it ; but the specimen I have seen did not show the foramen.
I have found it in a specimen of the Javan chevrotain, but absent
from two others. Generally speaking, therefore, we may say that
it is absent from the deer. The prong-horned antelope affords a
striking contrast. I found the opening in four out of five speci-
mens. Out of over 200 species, therefore, of the section Pecora
the foramen may be said to be present in but one.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THB OLECRANON PERFORATION. 163
In contrast with the Pecora the foramen is generally present in
the Suina. All of seven specimens of the collared peccary showed
it ; one was a young animal ; another had just matured. Arens says
that the foramen is present in the whole family. Blainville found it
in the wild hog and babiroussa, and Meckel in the common hog.
Arens discredits the latter, and of about a dozen specimens which I
have seen it was absent from all ; most of these, however, were
young. It may be that domestication has changed the habits of the
hog. The opening has been seen in Pallas's wart-hog and the Li-
berian hippopotamus.
The Perrissodactyla afford some striking contrasts. The horse,
rhinoceros, and elephant do not show it. It has been seen by
Blainville in the daman. Blainville, Meckel, and Arens all found
it in the American tapir. Of the six species I have seen four, the
American, Malay, white-lipped, and Baird's tapir. Of eight speci-
mens of the latter, sixteen humeri, there were three foramina on the
right side, six on the left. Three of the specimens were young ani-
mals, in two of which the opening was absent ; in one, absent on
the left side.
Blainville and Cope mention its presence in some of the fossil
Ungulata.
The Sirenia and Cetacea do not show it.
Out of more than 700 species of rodents the foramen was found
in four of the squirrels ; eighteen other species representing seven
genera did not show it. It is absent from the beavers and gophers.
It has been seen in three out of about 330 species of rats. The
common rat and mouse do not show it. It has been seen in some
of the octodons ; in some of the agoutis, spotted cavy, guinea pig,
and capybara. The large size of the opening in the Javan porcu-
pine, golden agouti, guinea pig, and capybara is worthy of men-
tion. All of the hares show the foramen.
It is probably constant in some of the Insectivora, as the tenrec
and common hedgehog; I have also seen it in Solenodon cu-
banus and the South African hedgehog. Blainville found it in the
Tupaiida and he and Meckel in the flying lemurs. It was absent
from the moles and shrews.
It is also absent from the bats and endentates, and probably the
marsupiak.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
164
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
The olecranon perforation in the lower animals.
Chimpanzee, frequent.
Gorilla, frequent.
Orang-utan, frequent.
Gibbon, rare.
Colobinae, absent.
Cercopithecinse, occasional.
Mandrill, constant.
New-world monkeys, absent.
Slender lemur, constant.
Cats, absent.
Civets, common.
Hyenas, constant.
Dogs, constant.
Weasels, occasional.
Raccoons, absent.
Bears, absent.
Aquatic carnivora, absent.
Ox, absent.
Sheep, absent.
Goat, absent.
Giraffe, absent.
Camel, absent,
Deer, absent.
Prong-homed antelope, constant.
Peccary, constant.
Wild hog, present.
Domestic hog, absent.
Hippopotamus, present.
Horse, absent.
Rhinoceros, absent.
Elephant, absent.
Tapir, nearly constant.
Fossil Ungulata, sometimes.
Sirenia, absent.
Cetacea, absent.
Squirrels, rare.
Beavers, absent.
Gophers, absent.
Rats, rare.
Octodons, common in some.
Hares, constant.
Tenrec, constant.
Hedgehog, constant.
Moles, absent.
Shrews, absent.
Bats, absent.
Edentates, absent.
Marsupials, absent.
Monotremes, absent.
Several authors (i, i6, 27, and 28) have mentioned the occur-
rence of the opening in the lower animals. Mivart (42), p. 310,
says : '* The cotonoid fossa is generally shallower in the Lemuroidea
than in the Anthropoidea. A perforation extends into the olecra-
nal fossa in some. This is very large and constant in Loris^ but
it is also present in Troglodytes and Simla, and sometimes in Hylo-
bates f man, Cercopithecus, Macacus, and Arctocebus, The olecra-
nal fossa is sometimes deep, as in the SimiidoSy especially the Cyn-
opithecince. It is less so in man, and still less so in the lemuroids,
especially in Indris^
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE OLECRANON PERFORATION. 165
Many works on human anatomy mention its occurrence in the
human subject. (See i to 19, 22 to 27, and 42.) Meckel, 1825
(28), says that it is sometimes founchin man, but is small ; that the
inferior races show it perhaps oftener than the superior. He found
it especially in negroes and Papuans. Desmoulins, 1826 (29), men-
tions a Hottentot skeleton which showed the foramen, and refers to
its being found in the Bushmen and Guanches, and states that in
this respect they differ fr#m the Mongols. He was in error as to
the latter.
Dr. Jeffries Wyman (30), in 1853, examined at the Jardin des
Planies^ Paris, the skeletons of seven full-blooded negroes ; seven
of the fourteen humeri, or 50 per cent., showed the foramen; in
three subjects it existed on both sides ; in one, only on one side.
In 1862 the Boston Society for Med. Improvement discussed the
subject (30), and specimens from Indian mounds were shown.' In
1863 the Anthropological Society of Paris took it up (31 to 37).
Broca inaugurated the discussion, which recurred at intervals till
1 88 1. Broca, Pruner-Bey, and Lagneau were the most prominent
speakers. Perforated bones were shown from different parts of Eu-
rope : as the caverns of Montmaigre ; sepulchre of Chelles ; exca-
vations of Chamont (stone age) and St. Etienne; Furfoz (reindeer
age) ; caverns of Aridge ; a Parisian cemetery of the XVIIth cen-
tury ; cavern of Frontal, Belgium \ from the Ard^che ; Vaureal,
and Charreouy (polished stone). Pruner-Bey believed that the
foramen was found only in women, because all the perforated
humeri that he saw were small.
Verneau, 1878 (36), stated, in regard to the Guanches of the
Canary Islands, that the humeri were robust, twisted, and often per-
forated ; that the frequency of the foramen surpassed any previously
known. In one grotto he found sixty-nine perforated humeri out of
150, or 46 per cent. ; in other grottoes, a less per cent., but still
high ; and sometimes the foramen was of uncommon size. He did
not find the anomaly among the present people of the islands.
Thuli6, 1 881 (37), stated that in the Bochimans the humeri were
small and slender and the olecranon cavity perforated like the Guan-
ches, some Egyptians, and many prehistoric humeri.
The subject was also discussed by the International Congress of
Anthropologists, Paris, 1867 (38). Broca claimed that it had no
connection with the rank a people held in the scale of races, and
that the foramen constantly became rarer since prehistoric times.
During the discussion it was stated that the opening had been seen
Digitized by VjOOQIC
166
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
in the humeri of natives of Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico, and also in
the Kalmucs.
The following is a list of collections, numbering sixteen humeri and
upwards and arranged in the order of highest percentage of foramina:
b
oi
a
1
Authority.
«
89
150
30
il
20
62
67
122
156
97
61
28
30
66
48
69
6
17
18
12
22
2
I
t
5
7
36.2
34.3
31.2
30
28
28
25.6
21.8
21.7
20
14. 1
12.1
10.6
10.6
7.5
7
6
5.5
4.1
3.8
3-2
A. M. M. col
BuU.Anthrop. Soc.
Topinard
Prehistoric Arizona Indians.
Guanches, Canary islands. (Ver-
neau.)
Yellow and American races.
Polynesians.
Indian mounds of U. S. Wyman,
Peabody Museum.
Private collection, mainly negro and
mulatto.
Indian mounc^, U. S.
From Vaureal, France.
Guanches of Canary islands.
Dolmens and grottoes around Paris.
Polished stone.
African negroes.
Prehistoric Indians, ancient cities
New Mexico.
Melanesians.
Dolmens. De Quiberon.
Caverns of I'homme mort, Lozere.
The author
A. M. M. col
Pruner-Bey
Topinard
€t
A. M. M. col
Topinard .
«
((
388
288
27
16
2001
i<
Polished stone.
Dolmens, Liozere. Polished stone.
A. M. M. col
Antbrop. Soc. , Paris
A. M. M. col.
Topinard
Mostly white soldiers.
Bulletins. From Chamont, stone
age.
Negroes and mulattoes.
Parisians from IVth to Xllth cen-
96
150
*2l8
A. M. M. col
Topinard
turies.
Cotemporary Indians.
.Parisians of Ctimetery of Innocents.
(Hamy and Sauvages.)
Parisians of Middle Ages. (Broca
and Bataillard.)
Europeans of America. Wjrman,
Peabody Museum.
Paris cemetery of XVI Ith century.
Broca.
Long barrows of England, bronze
age.
«
52
*2l8
30
Bull. Anthrop. Soc,
Paris.
Topinard
* Probably same oolleotion.
Dr. Wyman, in the Peabody reports of 1 868-' 78 (39), states that
out of eighty humeri from the mounds of the western states and
Florida twenty-five, or 31 per cent., were perforated; fifty-two
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE OLBCRANON PERFORATION.
167
humeri of Europeans examined by comparison gave only two cases,
or 3.9 per cent.
Dr. Montana, 1876 (40), presented six specimens of the foramen
found in the island of Cuba to the Havana Academy, and said they
were of the Chinese race.
To sum up the foregoing : Meckel mentions its frequency in the
Papuan ; Meckel and Wyman in the negro, and I am inclined to
agree with them, although Broca, Lagreay, and Pruner-Bey doubt
it ; Broca, Pruner-Bey, and Desmoulins in the Hottentot ; Desmou-
lins and Thuli6 in the Bushmen ; Pruner-Bey and Thuli^, its occur-
rence in the Egyptians ; Broca, Desmoulins, Lagneau, Thuli6, and
Pruner-Bey all put the proportion high in the Guanches, and Ver-
neau says it is not found in the present race of the islands.
Fig. 1.
The accompanying figure i, natural size, is of the lower part of a
left humerus, from the Salado Valley (Hemenway) collection ; it
Digitized by VjOOQIC
168
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
was made by Dr. J. C. McConnell, of the Army Medical Museum.
The foramen is quite large, as are most of those in this collection.
Fig. 2.
Figure 2 is also by Dr. McC. and of natural size. It represents
the humeri of a child about eleven years old, from the same collec-
tion. The right humerus shows a small foramen, with sloping edges.
The left shows a wider, flatter, and thinner partition, with several
small openings. It looks to me as if these foramina were just in
process of formation, with the promise of the left being the larger.
I was at first inclined to think with De Blainville and Meckel that
the foramen was due to a want of ossification ; but if I interpret
these specimens correctly it is formed at least sometimes and
probably always, not by a failure to ossify, but by a process of atro-
phy after ossification has taken place. It will be observed that the
fossae and foramina are above the line of epiphyseal junction.
The fact that in the collection of tapirs above mentioned the
young did not show the foramen while the mature animals did
seems to favor my proposition that atrophy occurs as maturity ap-
proaches. If this be correct, then the atrophy itself would seem to
be caused by the pressure of the coronoid or olecranon process, pre-
sumably the latter, as shown, for instance, in the dog, where in the
dry bone the olecranon process projects even through the foramen.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE QLECRANON PERFORATION. 169
Dr. Harrison Allen, of Philadelphia, wrote a commentary on this
paper as it was originally prepared and before some important ob-
servations had been made. I insert here so much of his remarks as
will apply to it in its present shape. He says:
** Reviewing the list in which the olecranon perforation is absent,
it is seen that it includes all swimming and flying forms, as instanced
in Sirenia, Cheiroptera, and Pinnepedia. In terrestrial types, which
are adapted to life in the water, such as the aquatic camivora, it is
also absent. Such facts suggest the conclusion that the relief of the
limb from impact is in some way associated with the absence of the
foramen. In like manner the absence of the foramen in the Eden-
tata is evidence in the same direction, since these creatures are either
fossorial or arboreal, and in neither adaptation is any result of im-
pact demonstrable in the limb. If, therefore, it be conceded that
the foramen is absent as the result of withholding of co-ordinated
lines of pressure which accompany progression upon the ground, it
becomes interesting to contrast the humeri of the old and the new
world monkeys. In those of the old-world group the foramen is
present, since progression (except in Hylobates) is much the same
as in other terrestrial mammals ; whereas in those of the new world
the prehensile tail must remove much of the impact from the limb.
"Again, even among the terrestrial camivora the impact is much
less (owing to the spread of the toes in the act of supporting the
body) in Felidae, Procyonidse, and Ursidae than in Canidae. Why
it is absent in some of the Ungulata and present in others is inex-
plicable by any such hypothesis. It appears to be variable in limbs
of the same species as in the ourang and to be present in wild
forms yet variable in domesticated forms of sus scrofa. In man the
greater frequency of its presence on one side of the body is curious,
for according to the law of impact it should be absent on both.
'* In conclusion, I may say that the theory of impact appears to
account for the presence of the foramen in some of the most highly
differentiated forms, but that its significance is evidently complex
and will not admit of a single explanation.
"In domesticated animals, including man, I am convinced that
variations are always of obscure significance. The effects of dis-
eased action often disturb the evolution of characters, and the
observer must be on his guard how far to rely on general biological
tenets in his attempts to explain variable structures.*'
22
Digitized by VjOOQIC
170 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. 111.
Dr. J. L. Wortman, anatomist of the Army Medical Museum,
has written the following opinion :
** The explanation of the presence or absence of the olecranon
perforation in the mammalian humerus is not altogether an easy
matter when we take into consideration the diverse and widely sep-
arated forms in which it occurs ; still there can be little doubt that
in some species at least, in which it is very constantly present, the
simple mechanical explanation appears to be the only reasonable
one that can be offered.
** An example of this kind is afforded by the dog and hyena,
among the terrestrial carnivora. In them it will be noticed that
the perforation or foramen is always large, and that the olecranon
fossa is remarkable for its depth ; that in extreme extension of the
forearm the olecranon process of the ulna fits accurately into the
foramen, thereby allowing the limb to assume nearly a straight line,
which it could not otherwise do if no foramen were present. In
the cat, on the other hand, in which the foramen is invariably ab-
sent, so far as my knowledge goes, the limb cannot be brought so
nearly into a straight line by extreme extension of the forearm, for
the reason that the olecranon process of the ulna impinges upon
the bony septum between the coronoid and olecranon fossae of the
humerus.
"How, now, will we explain the difference in structure upon any
hypothesis regarding the use of the limb ? It is a fact to be con-
stantly observied in the habits of these animals that the dog and
hyena, in feeding, place both forelimbs upon the bone or other
morsel and remove pieces by tearing or pulling them off with the
mouth. Again, who has not noticed the delight of the puppy at
play in taking hold of an object with his mouth and pulling?
Both of these acts require that the forelimbs, in order to form an
efficient brace, must be made to assume as nearly a straight line as
possible, so that the strain may fall directly upon the bones and not
depend upon the strength of the triceps muscle, which would prove
a manifest disadvantage. A constant repetition of this posture and
a constant effort upon the part of the animal to straighten out its
forelimbs has caused an encroachment of the olecranon process
upon the bony septum between the olecranon and coronoid fossae,
resulting, finally, in its disappearance and the formation of the
foramen.
"In no other species of the carnivora, with the possible exception
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE OLECRANON PERFORATION. 171
of the civets, do we observe similar habits or a similar use made of
the forelimb ; and in none of the rest of them do we find the foramen
present. It may therefore be reasonably concluded, I believe, that
in so far at least as these animals are concerned the mechanical hy-
pothesis affords an explanation.
** As regards the presence of the perforation in other forms, Dr.
Allen has already suggested a plausible reason for its absence in the
Cebidae and its frequent occurrence in the Simiidse among the pri-
mates. Among the Rodentia it appears to be principally developed
in the Lagomorphs or rabbits and the Hystricomorphs or porcu-
pines and their allies, although some few of both the squirrel and
rat divisions show it. I am not familiar with the habits of these
animals; hut it is possible that some peculiar movement of the
forelimb in obtaining their food may be responsible for its produc-
tion in a manner not dissimilar to that already discussed in regard
to the dog and hyena.
*' Concerning the Ungulates, its presence in such forms as the
prong-horned antelope, the pig, peccary, tapir, and, possibly, a few
others, would appear at first sight to be puzzling ; but when we
recall the habits of some of these species we are not so much at a
loss for an explanation.
" The pig and peccary have a habit, similar to that of the dog,
of using their forelimbs to hold their food firmly to the ground, if
it is of so firm a nature as to require forcible tearing apart. The
same conditions would prevail, therefore, as in the dog, and as a
result the foramen appears. This explanation will not apply to the
prong-horned antelope in so far as the particular use of the limb is
concerned. In them I fancy the perforation appears by reason of
their peculiarly stiff-legged way of running, if I may so call it.
This is so marked that the practised eye of the hunter seldom fails
to distinguish the peculiar gait of the animals even at a great dis-
tance, as I have so frequently observed. The effect is again the
same in this case, namely, straightening the limb and the conse-
quent pushing through of the olecranon process of the ulna.
" In the case of the tapir I am not sufficiently acquainted with
the habits of the animal in its native haunts to offer any explanation,
but it would not be at all surprising if it is found that he uses his
forelimb after the manner of the pig in tearing up succulent roots
and other materials upon which he feeds.*'
I have no further explanation of my own to offer and would
Digitized by VjOOQIC
172 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
rather submit the case in its present shape. The historical research
seems to confirm the testimony of the osteological collections, that
the foramen was most frequent among the ancient peoples. The
relative habits will probably explain the difference.
The greater frequency on the left side is still an enigma. I have
noticed that generally where it was present on both sides the left
was usually the larger ; where absent on both sides the left partition
was usually thinner.
I desire to thank Dr. J. L. Wortman, anatomist of the Army
Medical Museum, and Mr. Fred. Lucas, of the U. S. National Mu-
seum, for assistance in preparing this paper.
Bibliography, ^
1. Aeby, Chr., Der Bau des mensch. Korpers, Leipzig, 1871, p.
276.
2. d* Alton, E., Handbuch der mensch. Anat., Bd. I, Leipzig,
1850, p. 91.
3. Arnold, F., Handbuch der Anat., Freiburg, Bd. 1, 1844, p. 473.
4. Cruveilhier, Anatomy, Translation, New York, 1844, p. 79.
5. Encyciop^die Anat., Paris, T. II, p. 135.
6. Fyfe, Ana-t., Edinburgh, 1819, Vol. I, p. 134.
7. Gray, Anat., Philadelphia, 1878, p. 227,
8. Handy, W. R., Anat., Philadelphia, 1854, p. 694.
9. Harrison, Robert, Anat., New York, i860, p. 631.
10. Hartmann, Rob., Handbuch der Anat., Strassburg, 1881,
p. 89.
11. Henle, Handbuch Anat., Braunschweig, Bd. 1, 1867, p. 241.
12. Hoffmann, Schwalbe, Anat., Erlangen, 1877, Bd. I, p. 187.
13. Holden, Human Osteology, London, 1887, p. 236.
14. Hollstein, L., Anat., Berlin, 1865, p. 127.
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16. Humphry, Human Skeleton, London, 1858, p. 374, foot-note.
17. Hyrtl, Anat., Wien, 1889, p. 384.
18. Ledwich, Edward, Anat., Dublin, 1877, P- 32.
19. Leidy, Human Anat., Philadelphia, 1889, p. 166.
2a Meckel, Anat., Translation, Philadelphia, 1832, Vol. I, p. 472.
21. Monro, Anat., Edinburgh, 1813, Vol. I, p. 414.
22. Morel and Duval, Manuel d'anat., Paris, 1883, p. 92.
23. Oloriz, F., Anat., Zaragoza, 1886, T. I, p. 273.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] THE OLECRANON PERFORATION. 173
24. Quain, Anat., London, 1867, Vol. I, p. 80.
25. Richardson, T. C, Anat., Philadelphia, 1867, p. 149.
26. Sappey, Anat., Paris, 1867, Vol. I, p. 372.
27. Todd, Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 66.
28. Meckel, Vergleich, Anat., Bd. II, Theil II, Halle, 1825, p.
361 ; also transl., Pkris and Bruxelles, 1829, T. IV, p. 40.
29. Desmoulins, A., Hist. nat. des races humaines, Paris, 1826.
30. Bost. Med. & Surg. Jour., Vol. 66, 1862, p. 233.
31. Bull. Soc. Anthrop. de Paris, IV, 1863, pp. 510, 513, and
586.
32. Ditto, V, 1864, pp. 639 and 721.
33. Ditto, VI, 1865, pp. 83, 398, 466, 710.
34. Ditto, II, 2d s6r., 1867, pp. 148, 159, 555, 690.
35. Ditto, IV, 1869, pp. 445 and 461.
36. Ditto, I, 3d s6r., 1878, p. 433-
37. Ditto, IV, 1881, p. 392.
38. Second Intemat. Congress of Anthropology, 1867, Paris, pp.
140 and 154.
39. Peabody Museum reports, 1868-1878; see Rev. d'anthrop.,
IX, 1880, p. 147.
40. Anal. Real. Acad. Sci., Habana, XIII, i876-'7, pp. 267 and
281.
41. Topinard, Paul, 6l6ments d'anthrop. g6n., Paris, 1885, p.
1015.
42. Philosoph. Trans., London, 1867, p. 299, St. George Mivart
on ''Append, skel. of primates."
43. Filhol, Trans. Geolog. Soc., Paris, 1881.
44. De Blainville, Osteographie, Paris, 1839 to 1864.
45. Cope, Report U. S. Geolog. Survey, Vol. Ill, part I, 1884.
46. Arens, J., Das Oberarmbein der Sailgerthiere, Bonn, 1869,
p. 19.
47. Kneeland, S., Jr., Jour. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., June, 1852,
p. 340.
48. Lund, Edward, Proc. Lit. and Philosoph. Soc, Manchester,
IV, 1865, p. 57.
49. Hartmann, Dr. Robt., ** Der Gorilla,** Leipzig, 1880, p. 135.
The above paper was read before the Society February 15, 1890.
In the discussion which followed. Dr. Matthews said that as the
olecranon perforation was, in all probability, due to repeated and
Digitized by VjOOQIC
174 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
forcible extension of the forearm, we must look for its cause in
some labor which required its extension^ Among thd agricultural
aborigines of the Southwest, who showed high percentages of this
formation, we need not go far to discover the existence of such
labor. The females were engaged during the greater part of their
time in grinding corn ; this was performed on a metate, or large flat
stone, by means of a smaller stone, which was held in both hands
of the operator and moved forward and backward. The chief ex-
ertion was made in moving the stone forward and required the most
forcible extension of the forearm. Some agricultural tribes of the
North used wooden mortars and pestles, which required a different
motion in working them.
Professor Cope remarked that the orifice in the humerus discussed
by Dr. Lamb could be called neither a foramen nor a fontanelle,
but is simply a perforation dependent on the thickness of the lamina
which separates the anterior and posterior fosssae of the humerus.
It is not useful for systematic purposes, as its presence rarely coin-
cides with the rest of the structure. It indicates a deficiency of
bone structure at the locality in question, but he was unable to
assign any definite cause for this condition. The presence of the
perforation is certainly not due in some cases to continued extension
of the fore-arms; since in many aquatic mammals, as the seals,
where vigorous extension is necessary to the use of the limb in
swimming, the foramen does not occur. Within a limited range
the character might be useful for diagnostic purposes, as for
instance, as an aid in discrimating certain races of mankind.
Polynesian Language.— Ren6 Allair (in Revue G^ographique
Internationale for December, 1889, p. 266) characterizes the lan-
guage of Polynesia as follows :
"The language is soft ; it is as clear and well defined as French, sim-
ple as English, but less unpleasant in pronunciation ; poetical as Ger-
man, but less complicated; rich as Russian, but less difficult. It
abounds in Vowels like Japanese and Italian ; it is as noble as Span-
ish.'* John Murdoch.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.]
ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
175
A QUARTERLY BIBLIOGRAPHY
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les deux mois sous la direction de
M.M. Cartailhac, Hamy, Topinard.
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Digitized by VjOOQIC
180
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
Notes on heredity. Arch. Surg. , Lond. ,
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f^t^', 537-540.— Modigliani (E.)
Les Boucliers des Nias. Internal.
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Digitized by VjOOQIC
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ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
181
ment bildung in der Negerhaut. Mo-
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HUtoric and prehistoric rel-
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Perioatitia and atrophy of ancient
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Polk (W. M.) Relation of medicine
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Pow^ell (J. W.) Prehistonc man in
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—Rand (S. J.) The legends of the
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der Deutschen anthropologischen Ge-
sellschaft in Wien vom 5. bis 10. Au-
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Digitized by VjOOQIC
182
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
vom 1 1, bis 14. August. Ibid.^ 49-188.
— Reece (B.) Public schools as affect-
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Regalia (£.) Vi sono emozioni?
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Sohlossar (A.) Votkslieder aus
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Inwiefern is die menschliche Ohrmu-
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Schwatka (F.) The sun-dance of
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3?3-397— Small (A. W.) The be-
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985; ion. — Testut (L.) Note sur
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April 1S90.]
ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
183
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[142].— Ward (H.) Life among
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195.. Webster (C. L.) Prof. D.
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323.— White (A. D.) New chap-
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— Wieaelgren (H.) Om stenen i
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1890, xxxvii, 255.— V. WlUlookl
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Wien, 1889, n. F., ix, [78-82.^-
Wright (G. F.) An archaeological
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Vergleichendes Uber den Stirnlappen.
Ibid,, [131-133]-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
184 " THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
BOOK NOTICES.
British Association for the advancement of Science, Fifth Report of
the Committee appointed for the purpose of investigating and publish-
ing Reports on the Physical Characters^ Languages and Industrial
and Social Condition of the North- Western tribes of the Dominion
of Canada. London^ i88g.
As stated by Mr. Hale in his preface to the above report,
British Columbia offers to the present student of anthropology
the best field for original research in North America. To a con-
siderable extent this is due to the fact that the tribes, especially of
the interior, have suffered comparatively little from contact with
civilization and yet retain in pristine simplicity many of their old
customs and beliefs.
The effort, therefore made by the Canadian Government, con-
jointly with the British Association for the Advancement of Science,
to harvest the material from this comparatively unworked field must
interest all students of anthropology.
That the selection of Dr. Boas for this important work, be-
cause of his experience and training, was a wise one, is fully sub-
stantiated by this, his first general report.
Though the trip undertaken in 1886-87 and that of the following
year were in the nature of reconnaissances, a considerable body of
important facts was gleaned, an earnest of the full harvest which
awaits more extended observation.
In this connection it may not be amiss to call attention to the
fact that the demands of the science of to-day can only be met by
the student who is able not only to visit but to live among the
people he would investigate, and the more closely he conforms to
the habits and life of the tribe and the more completely he is
adopted by them, the fuller and more accurate will be his returns.
No one better understands the situation that Dr. Boas, and in
his comments upon the necessarily fragmentary character of his
results he states that " the difficulty of observing or even acquiring
information on such points [social organization, customs, arts, and
knowledge] during a flying visit of a fortnight — the maximum time
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. • 185
spent among any single tribe — is so overwhelming that no thorough
report is possible, and it is almost impossible to guard against
serious errors."
Unfortunately the students as yet are few who, like Dr. Boas, are
willing to decivilize themselves, and to be Indians among the Indians.
Yet it is certain that until the men and means are found to do the work
in this way, the results reached will continue to be fragmentary and
more or less permeated with error. The stranger, however well
acquainted with Indian nature and however tactful, must remain a
stranger in a tribe for a long time, for Indian suspicion and reserve
are hard to penetrate. The missionary who knows an Indian lan-
guage, and no missionary can succeed who does not, has so far an
advantage, but as his teachings are largely directed against Indian
customs and belief, and his position is thus antagonistic, he too can,
as a rule, reach but a limited distance into the mysteries of Indian
sociology, mythology, etc. It is only the trained student who is
willing to sever himself from civilization who can reap a full measure
of success.
Space permits mention of only a few of the important details of
Dr. Boas* paper. The country visited is occupied by tribes be-
longing to no fewer than seven or eight distinct linguistic stocks —
a statement which at once conveys an idea of the difficulties of the
student.
These, as given by the author, are :
I. Tlingit of Southern Alaska ; 2. Haida of Queen Charlotte Isl-
ands and part of Prince of Wales Archipelago ; 3. Tsimshian of Nass
and Skeena Rivers ; 4. Kwakiutl of the coast from Gardiner Chan-
nel to Cape Mudge, except the country around Dean Inlet and the
west coast of Vancouver Island ; 5. Nootka of west coast of Van-
couver Island ; 6. Salish of the coast and the eastern part of Van-
couver Island south of Cape Mudge, the southern part of the inter-
ior as far as the coast of the Selkirk Range, and the northern parts
of Washington, Idaho, and Montana ; 7. Kutonaqa of the valley of
upper Columbia, Kootenay Lake and River, and adjacent United
States.
Dr. Boas points out that the language of two of these families,
the Haida and Thlinkit, contain many similarities of form and
phonetic elements, and that at least they form one group both by
reason of their similarity to each other and their dissimilarity from
the other families. He, nevertheless, notes a great difference be-
24
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186 ' THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
tween their respective vocabularies and grammatic elements and
hence treats them as distinct, though considering the question of
this relationship yet an open one.
The Indians of the coast without regard to family are naturally
fishermen as are also, chiefly, the interior Salish and Cootenai. Most
of the interior Indians have given up their ancient customs and are
Roman Catholics. They are said to be good stock raisers and to
endeavor to irrigate their lands, but to be poor. The Coast Indians
are well off.
The Tsimshian have been Christianized, as is well known, and
have given up nearly all their own customs.
The physical character of the coast tribes is said to be very uni-
form. This would seem to have resulted from similarity of habits
and general environment rather than from the " frequent intermar-
riages '* as stated by the author, though this too, doubtless, contri-
butes to the general result. He finds further that the habitus of the
northern tribes — ^Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, and Bilqula,
and to a less extent of the Nootka — is similar to the East Asiatic
tribes. The coast and interior Salish are of a different type. ''As
the Bilqula speak a language belonging to the Salish family, it must
be assumed that they acquired this distinct physical character through
intermixture with the neighboring tribes.**
Labretifery prevails among the females of the Tlingit, Haida,
Tsimshian, and Heiltsuk, in short among the northern tribes of the
region, from whom, probably, the custom was borrowed by the Alaska
Eskimo.
Chiefs' daughters among the Tsmishian are said to grind down
the incisors to the gums by chewing a jade pebble, thus forming an
arch — a curious sign of royalty indeed !
Dr. Boas is of the opinion that the mental capacity of the Indians
described is high. He thus sums up their chief traits :
** He is rash in his anger, but does not easily lose control over
his actions. He sits down or lies down sullenly for days without
partaking of food, and when he rises his first thought is, not how to
take revenge, but to show that he is superior to his adversary. A
great pride and vanity, combined with the most susceptible jealousy,
characterize all actions of the Indian. He watches that he may re-
ceive his proper share of honor at festivals ; he cannot endure to be
ridiculed for even the slightest mistake ; he carefully guards all his
actions, and looks fof due honor to be paid to him by friends,
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April 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 187
Strangers, and subordinates. This peculiarity appears most clearly
in great festivals, which are themselves an outcome of the vanity of
the natives, and of their love of displaying their power and wealth.
To be strong, and able to sustain the pangs of hunger, is evidently
considered worthy of praise by the Indian; but foremost of all is
wealth.
*' It is considered the duty of every man to have pity upon the poor
and hungry. Women are honoured for their chastity and for being
true to their husbands ; children, for taking care of their parents ;
men, for skill and daring in hunting, and for bravery in war."
A very important subject for investigation among our Indian
tribes is the nature of property ownership, especially of land. It is
generally believed that tribal ownership in land was the universal
rule among eastern tribes. Not so among the coast tribes of British
Columbia. Mr. Dawson states of the Haida (Queen Charlotte
Islands, 1880, 117, 118) that the coast line and berry fields belong
to the different individual families by whom they are considered as
personal property and as hereditary.
Dr. Boas, however, assigns to the gentes the property rights which
Dawson gives to individual families. The former says, p. 37 :
" Among all the tribes heretofore described, each gens owns a
certain district and certain fishing privileges. Among the Tlingit,
Haida, and Tsimshian, each gens in each village has its own fish-
ing-groimd ; its mountains and valleys, on which it has the sole
right of hunting and picking berries ; its rivers in which to fish
salmon, and its house-sites. For this reason the houses of one gens
are always grouped together. * * * The right of a gens to the place
where it originated cannot be destroyed. It may acquire by war
or by other events territory originally belonging to foreign tribes,
and leave its home to be taken up by others ; the right of fishing,
hunting, and gathering berries in their old home is rigidly main-
tained. A careful study shows that nowhere the tribe as a body
politic owns a district, but that each gens has its proper hunting
and fishing-grounds, upon which neither members of other tribes
nor of other gentes must intrude except by special permission.*'
But more curiously still *' the property of the whole gens is
vested in the chief, who considers the salmon rivers, berry patches,
and coast strips in which the gens has the sole right, as his property."
The chief thus appears to be assort of executive officer and adminis-
trator to the gens.
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188 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Many important facts are given respecting the food, occupations,
clothing, implements, houses, social organizations, government
and law, birth, marriage and death customs, religion, shamanism,
secret societies, and finally languages of the natives of this part of
America. It is to be hoped that the investigations thus auspiciously
begun may be continued indefinitely to the honor of the Canadian
Government and the profit of scholars everywhere.
H. W. Henshaw.
Les PremUres Populations de JO Europe, par le JMT* de Nadaillac.
Paris, i88q.
This work is in continuation of that by the same author, Z* Or-
i^ne et U dtveloppement de la vie sur le globe, published in 1885,
which was intended to describe the succession of beings that have
filled earth and sea ''before the appearance of man at the moment
prescribed by the divine will.*' The author now treats of man, his
races, peoples, and advances, but in the present volume confines
himself to the man of Europe, presenting, however, illustrations and
parallels from all other parts of the world.
The treatise is in many respects excellent. In particular the brief
but comprehensive account of the megalithic monuments may be
mentioned, and perhaps no better summary of existing knowledge
relating to the palafittes has been presented. The theory of the
population of the earth by migrations from the arctic circle is dis-
posed of with convincing force. The discussion concerning the
priscan home of the Aryans is both fair and acute, the author's de-
ductions being in favor of Bactria as a locus of dispersion. On the
whole, the valuable portions of the work are too many for special
notice in the space now allowed, which must be reserved for men-
tion of some points requiring examination on account of their ex-
posure to adverse criticisih.
Undue weight is given in this treatise, as in most others on the
general subject, to the objects found in connection with buried hu-
man remains as affording evidence of a synchronous prevalent belief
in a future life. Undoubtedly, most tribes of men have held such
a belief, more or less vague, at a certain stage of their culture ; and
then objects were buried with the dead which, in some undefined
way, were supposed to be useful in the future state. But there was
once a widespread custom of disposing of certain kinds of personal
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April 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 189
property with the corpse, sometimes by burial, but also by crema-
tion, in which the motive was sociologic and not religious. The
object was to destroy the articles so as to preserve peace among the
survivors. In a certain stage of savagery a man could have no prop-
erty whatever, all property belonging to his clan. The first modi-
fication of this condition was in the allowance of personal ownership
in weapons, tools, or ornaments of a man's own manufacture. On
his death these objects did hot belong to any one by title and, if
not removed, they would become the occasion of contention, so they
were destroyed, the act producing in time a burial rite. It is also
to be considered that even at the present day the most cultured peo-
ple bury with the corpses of their relations and friends such objects
as were especially associated with the deceased in life. This is
through a personal sentiment, and is certainly not a religious senti-
ment, though it may be connected with religion through heredity.
An officer of the army is sometimes now buried in his uniform and
with his sword, and his wife is buried in her last ball costume and
jewels, but these practices do not imply the supposed use of those
adjuncts in a fiiture life, though they possibly are rooted in super-
stition changed in its expression. As we clearly know other mo-
tives than those connected with any religious dogmas for the burial,
together with human remains, of such objects as are brought in evi-
dence by the Marquis de Nadaillac and others of his school, the
religious inferences derived from such burials are by no means con-
clusive. , They may be suggestive and, in connection with other
fads, may be highly instructive, but by themselves, as they are and
must be in the older instances, they do not prove what is claimed
for them.
The most serious error of the author is in the doctrines promul-
gated about the several distinct qualities and missions of what he
assumes to be the distinct races of men. His commencing and
concluding pages clearly set forth certain opinions as of ruling im-
port, and fatalism is his watchword. He does not believe that there
have been planes of culture common to all men from the earliest
periods known, the characteristics of which planes were modified
chiefly by specific environment. He regards the several races which
he catalogues as specifically adapted by idiosyncrasy or predestina-
tion to certain planes and as limited to stages of advance beyond
which, to them, death bars further progress, not even absorption
being allowed.
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190 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
There can be no doubt that death bars advance if the people who
might, could, or should have advanced are exterminated by foreign
invasion, and doubtless absorption is prevented when, e. g., the
Jews and the Goim, neither people will marry with the other ; but
such cases are exceptional in the grand history of man. The ex-
amples cited by the author are not fortunate. The most conclusive
to him is the alleged fact that the North American Indian never has
been and never can be civilized. That is the old /er^s naturcB doc-
trine, now utterly disproved. It would seem that the Marquis had
not read much of the literature of the last twenty years on this
topic.
The last half of the author's last page, which gives his funda-
mental summations, presents some inconsistencies occasioned by the
importation of what may be called the Calvinistic doctrine of pre-
destination and election into the domain of anthropology. He
says : ** History shows on every page great peoples — the Egyptians,
the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Peruvians — stopping in their start as
if an impassable barrier had been planted before them. Arriving
at the limit fixed by impenetrable decrees, they are not only inca-
pable of progress but even of comprehending the power and neces-
sity of progress.'* History might have something to explain about
these peoples quite distinct from racial characteristics. ' This asser-
tion is followed by the statement that '* progress comes from the
infusion of foreign blood among the old autochthonous populations,"
and that '* the races of Europe, which were and are reserved for the
highest destinies, owe their grandeur and incessant progress to the
Asiatic invasions. * ' Thus racial characteristics and racial predestina-
tion are of much higher import than environments, yet progress
was gained by the amalgamation of races, not by their continued
purity. All races that became amalgamated in Euro[)e were good
as ingredients ; all others were bad. It is to be inferred that the
" autochthonous races" of Europe and of Asia were both bad, but that
a primordial decree allowed of their favorable amalgamation with
excellent results. So it would seem that if some other races had been
allowed to amalgamate the result might also have been good. But
the decree was against this union. There is no consideration of the
fact that causes are known to be in continuous operation by which,
the world not yet being at its end, there may be further amalgama-
tion of peoples that are still in different stages of advance. It
would be difficult to propose any explanation of man's progress less
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 191
scientific or more egotistic than this theorized monopoly of preor-
dination. It recalls the Puritan pronunciamento : Resolved, ist,
that the earth belongs to the saints ; Resolved^ 2d, that we are the
saints. •
Garrick Mallery.
Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland, By Jeremiah Curtin, Boston,
Little, Brown &* Co. i8go. Cloth, 12 mo, vi, 345,
Such is the title of an attractive volume which comes to us in an
appropriate binding of green and gold, with a spray of shamrocks
in the corner. The author (an American by birth, but Irish by
remote ancestry, as the name indicates) is probably as well qualified
for the task he has undertaken as any man living, being a professional
linguist and mythologist who has spent many years investigating the
languages, customs, and traditions of the primitive people of three
continents, from the root-eating tribes of California to the warlike
mountaineers of the Caucasus. The twenty myths here given are
part of the material cpllected in the district of the west of Ireland
where Gaelic is still the everyday language of the people. Most of
the stories were gathered through interpreters from the lips of old men
and women to whom English is a foreign tongue, and most of whOm
have never been farther from home than the nearest market town or
the bounds of the next parish. The result is a collection of Keltic
heroic legends almost entirely free from the foreign corruptions due
to the intrusive race.
* In the introduction, the author treats of the nature and origin of
myths. He dismisses as partial, and therefore incorrect, the
theories of Muller and Spencer, who derive all mythology from a
misconception of the meanings of words and a confusion of ideas,
and asserts, what is probably the true theory, that it has its origin
rather in a misconception of the causes of phenomena, or, as Mr.
Curtin puts it : ** The personages of any given body of myths are
such manifestations of force in the world around them, or the result
of such manifestation, as the ancient myth-makers observed."
The definiteness of detail characteristic of Irish stories contrasts
strongly with what is found in other parts of Europe. In Hungary,
for instance, the usual introduction is, ** There was in the world,"
while the Russian story teller, hardly more satisfactory, informs us
that *' in a certain state in a certain kingdom, there was a man."
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192 THR AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
** In the Irish m)rths," on the contrary, " we are told who the char-
acters are, what their condition of life is, and where they lived and
acted ; the heroes and their fields of action are brought before us
with as much definiteness as if they were persons of to-day or yester-
day," and in another place he asserts that " the Gaelic mythology,
so far as it is preserved in Ireland, is better preserved than the
mythology of any other European country.*' From the definite
character of the myths, together with the internal evidence afforded
by the language itself, it would seem that the Gaelic occupancy of
Ireland dates from a very remote antiquity, going back, in fact, to
the period of the earliest wave of migration from the primitive
home of the Aryans.
The most interesting legends of the volume are those belonging
to the great epic cycle of the F6inne — ^the Nibelungenlied or Kale-
vala of the Gael. The F^inne were the knightly champions of
ancient Ireland, banded together under the leadership of Fionn
MacCumhail, from whom they derived their name. The story of
their origin is curious. The beautifiil daughter of a king is to be
won only by the performance of a feat which all the princes and
heroes of Ireland had attempted in vain, and in consequence of fail-
ure they have been confined in a dungeon and condemned to a cruel
death. Fionn, a youth until now unknown to the world, performs
the task and rescues the heroes, who agree to follow him and obey
his every command. Thus originated the FHnne Jtirinn, Fionn
himself is the offspring of a secret union between Cumhal and a
king's daughter, and has been brought up in concealment by his
grandmother to escape the wrath of the king, to whom it had been
foretold by the druids that he would one day lose his kingdom at the
hand of his grandson. In all his adventures he is accompanied by
a group of chosen companions, each one of whom is endowed with
some magic gift, and by a wonderftil dog, Bran, bom on the same
day as her master. The champion himself obtains knowledge of
whatever is going on in any part of the world by chewing his thumb,
which had once touched the Salmon of Knowledge. One of these
legends, that of the death of Cuchullin, resembles the pathetic story
of Sohrab and Rustem in the Shahnameh. The cycle properly ends
about the beginning of the Christian era, but is brought down to a
later date by the re-appearance of Oisin (the Ossian of Macpherson),
who returns from the Land of Youth, after an enchant^ existence
of three hundred years, in time to be baptized by Saint Patrick, soon
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 193
after which he dies. The legends are common to the Gaelic popu-
lation of both Ireland and Scotland, and in the former country,
especially, some one of the leading incidents is localized in almost
every county. The modern Fenians derive their name from these
old mythic champions.
Not alone the Fenian stories, but also all of the others which can
be considered distinctively Gaelic, are found in almost identically
the same form in the highlands of Scotland, as was discovered by
Campbell, who published a valuable collection of " Popular Tales
of the West Highlands" nearly thirty years ago. For instance, in
the Irish story of "The King of Erin and the Queen of the Lone-
some Island," the false queen is made to put on a magic belt, which
tightens and compels her to confess that her children are not the
king's sons. In the version noted by Campbell " Conall, at the
end, puts a ring on the queen's finger. It tightens and forces her
to confess that her sons are not the king's children, and Conall reigns
as the king's only son." The Green Isle of Campbell may be the
Lonesome Island of our author, from a confusion of two similar
words, uaine (green) and uaigneach (lonesome). The incident of
the hero and the sleeping queen occurs also in a Norse tale in Das-
ents' collection. "Fair, Brown and Trembling" is another form
of the story better known as "Cinderella." The version here
given, although obtained in the Gaelic district of the west, has
evidently suffered at the hands of the modem story teller, who
makes the king's son go to mass and wait outside the church door
for the maiden, who is afterward shut up in a closet by her envious
sisters to conceal her from his sight. In the Leinster version, as
learned by the writer years ago at his mother's knee, the girl goes
to a grand ball at the king's palace and is afterward hidden under a
large basket {cliabJi)^ when the little bird hops in at the door and
begins to sing,
** Bonny foot and hily foot,
In under the basket**
The author is to be commended for studiously avoiding that
abominable mixture of jargon and cheap vulgarisms popularly sup-
posed to represent the Irish brogue, while at the same time he has
carefully preserved the strong Gaelic idioms which give so -much
force and beauty to the language, as exemplified in the proverb of
the people, " Plead for your life in Irish." It must be remembered
that English is a foreign tongue which has been forced upon the
25
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194 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, [Vol. III.
people of Ireland, chiefly within the present century, and the broken
forms of the Irish peasant no more represent his correct modes of
expression in his own language than the coarse slang and dialect
phrases of the Georgia cracker or the western cowboy represent the
language of Americans. The only effect of such a misuse of words
must be to disgust sensible people and represent an intelligent nation
as a set of buffoons.
It is to be regretted that more space is not given to explanatory
notes and to comparisons with the mythology of other European
countries, but this may be remedied in a future edition. Taken
altogether the book is the best of the kind that has appeared since
Kennedy's collection was published twenty-five years ago, and is the
first real attempt to bring to popular notice the splendid legendary
treasures of the oldest nation of Western Europe.
James Mooney.
Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin in the
Arctic Ocean in the year 1884. By tapt, M, A. Healy^ U. S.
R. M., Commander, Washington^ i88g.
The recently issued report by Capt. M. A. Healy upon the cruise
of the Corwin in the Arctic, in 1884, possesses more than usual
claims upon the attention of those who are interested in the natives
of Northwestern Alaska. It is nearly three years since the com-
panion report of 1885 was issued, and the two together supply
many valuable details regarding the little known natives of the
interior of Northwest Alaska. The report for 1884, though issued
subsequently to that of 1885, is much more satisfactory to the
student of anthropology.
The report of the commanding officer contains, in addition to
the matter descriptive of the country and the cruise, some interest-
ing statements in regard to the Eskimo. The injustice of the law
which prohibits the sale of breech- loading rifles to the Eskimo is
pointed out, and its repeal advocated on the ground of reason and
humanity.
The efforts of the Corwin have resulted, it is said, in the almost
complete suppression of the whiskey traffic with many of its attendant
evils ; but it is evident, from other statements in the book, that the
good work is by no means finished.
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April 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 195
As a result of fifteen years' observation, Captain Healy places the
native population of Alaska at about 20,000. It is, however, to
the narrative of the exploration of the Kowak River by Lieut. J. C.
Cantwell that the student will turn with greatest interest. Though
the primary purpose of the journey was exploration and not scien-
tific investigation, and although no professed ethnologist accom-
panied the party, yet many important facts regarding the natives
were obtained and recorded.
The interior of Northwest Alaska is composed of broken, irregu-
lar mountain ranges with wide stretches of tundra or sphagnum
plains. Small streams of water intersect the tundra in every
direction which have their origin in innumerable lakes. In such a
country a boat is an absolute necessity for summer travel.
The inhabitants of the river are Eskimo, but they are Eskimo of
the interior, and the change of habitat has resulted in a corresponding
change of habits and apparently even of physical characteristics.
Thus we are told that they have, as a rule, dark complexions, promi-
nent cheek-bones, large mouths, and sharp chins, giving to the face
a triangular appearance very different from the round face of the
coast Eskimo.
An estimate of the population of the Eskimo of the Noitoc, Kowak,
and Selawick rivers, whose language and customs are said to be
practically identical, is as follows: Noitoc, 350; Kowak, 275;
Selawick, 3oo^total, 925.
From the middle of July to the latter part of August, the natives
from the inland meet their brethren from Cape Prince of Wales,
Diomedes, and Point Hope, on Hotham Inlet, for the purpose of
trade, and their intercourse appears to be limited to this period.
Unlike the coast Eskimo, the Kowak natives do not live in
permanent winter settlements. In early winter they gather in
small, isolated communities, usually of from one to three families,
and live in subterranean houses near the banks of the larger streams.
Later, when deep snow has fallen and the surface is frozen hard
enough for sledding, they begin a nom^ic life. At this season the
flesh of the reindeer furnishes the chief means of subsistence, and
in the pursuit of these animals they are compelled to wander here
and there over the vast plains of the interior. Having located a
herd of reindeer, the young men are followed by the old men and
the women and children, whose duty it is to bring up the camp
equipage on dog-sleds. Notwithstanding the precarious character
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19G THE AMEEICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
of the food supply at this season, the natives are said to be as im-
provident as the North American Indian usually is wherever found,
and they rarely have on hand more than two or three days* extra
supply of provisions. As it not infrequently happens that stormy
or very cold weather imprisons the hunters within doors for a week
at a time, starvation is often threatened and occasionally whole
families fall victims. It seems to be their usual custom to dry
sufficient fish to last from the time the rivers are frozen until winter
hunting begins ; but with this exception the natives appear to make
no effort to lay up a store of provisions in case of accident or
unusual scarcity of game.
The coolcing in winter is of the most primitive kind : A small
wooden tub is filled with snow which melts in the heated air of the
iglu ; the water then made to boil by. means of stones heated to
redness in the flame of the stone lamp. The meat is then partially
boiled.
When the ice in the river begins to break up and the return-
ing sun has rendered the snow unfit for sledding, the natives
gather in small settlements along the banks of the larger rivers and
locate their summer houses. The men then have recourse to hunt-
ing and trappings and the women prepare their nets for fishing, for,
rather curiously, the labor of catching the fish is allotted to the
women. The summer houses are very simple structures, being mad^
by planting half a dozen pliant willow wands in the ground in the
form of a circle, bending their upper ends and twisting them to-
gether to form the frame. A covering of deer skins or drilling
makes the house complete.
Lieutenant Cantwell supplies the natives with a certificate of
excellent character. They are honest in dealing with strangers and
among themselves. They are simple, credulous, and hospitable,
and though intensely curious, are not prying or intrusive. In their
domestic relations they are kind to each other, and the universal
consideration paid to the. old is a marked trait of their character.
He admits, however, that they are prone to the sin of lying, and
when detected, they do not exhibit any shame whatever.
As appears to be the case among the Eskimo everywhere, there
are no recognized chiefe or any trace of tribal union. The
shamans are greatly respected among them, and those individuals
more intelligent or more highly gifted naturally have much influ-
ence. As the women render important assistance in obtaining food
Digitized by VjOOQIC
April 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 197
and as burden carriers, they, too, have considerable influence, and
it is stated that *' in all discussions touching the welfare of the
community, or any important project, the women, especially the
old ones, join, and their opinions are received with evident respect
by the men."
They suffer most from pulmonary complaints and rheumatism.
Epidemic diseases are of rare occurrence, and it is stated that
syphilis has not reached the interior settlements to any great extent,
but it is only a question of time when its ravages will extend from
the coast tribes to this people. The treatment of the sick consists,
as among our Indians, of shamanistic rites, the shaman using a few
herbs to assist him in his incantations, nothing in the way of medi-
cine for the disease being given to the patient.
Near the coast the ordinary Eskimo kyak is used, but towards the
upper Kowak boats of spruce and birch bark were found, the former
material being employed for the larger and more serviceable boats,
while birch served for the lighter canoes that are stated to have been
of the most exquisite design.
In the winter snow-shoes furnish the ordinary means of locomo-
tion, while transportation is effected by means of dog-sleds.
Unlike the coast Eskimo of Alaska, the Kowak Eskimo do not,
as a rule, wear labrets. Altogether these inland Eskimo form an
interesting object for study, combining as they do, to a slight ex-
tent, the habits of the coast Eskimo with the general habits and,
apparently, also, to some extent, the physical characteristics of the
Athapascan or Tinne tribes of the far interior. They serve well to
illustrate how completely the Eskimo is a creature of his environ-
ment, and the extent and readiness with which changes take place
when he is subjected to different conditions of life.
It is greatly to be regretted that the author of this valuable report
did not obtain vocabularies of the people he visited. The compari-
son of the dialects of these inland Eskimo with one another and
with those of their coast brethren could scarcely fail to yield inter-
esting and important results. The report is generously illustrated,
and among the illustrations of the natives and their houses and
products are some of the best that have yet appeared.
H. W. Henshaw.
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198 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
NOTES AND NEWS.
PREHISTORIC MAN IN AMERICA.
To the Editor of the American Anthropologist :
Dear Sir : I agree so entirely with the sensible and conservative
conclusions of Major Powell's article upon Prehistoric Man in
America^ in the Forum for this month, that I regret that any flaw may
be detected in his arguments by ** archaeologists." As an anthro-
pologist and geologist his reasoning will undoubtedly carry great
weight, but I believe he makes no claim to be regarded as an archae-
ologist; while he certainly has sufficiently indicated his opinion
about "pseudo-archaeologists.'* As my own published opinions
coincide in almost every particular with his, I cannot be suspected
of any other motive than to strengthen the case he undertakes to
establish.
That the so-called '* mound builders*' were ancestors of the In-
dians I fully believe, but it is not the fact that ** white traders " ever
offered to the Indians "stone tomahawks and stone knives," as he
states, or Va better class of copper tools," and that in consequence
such objects have been "scattered through early barter far and wide
over the land." Such a proceeding clearly would have been futile.
The first traders wished to make the Indians more successful hunters
in order that they might get more i:)eltry from them, and to effect
this provided them with steel tomahawks and steel knives in place
of their own weapons made of stone or occasionally of copper. This
is perfectly well known both by historical evidence and by archaeo-
logical proof. All the "beautiful" stone and copper implements
that have ever been discovered are of native fabric, with the excep-
tion of certain gross and palpable forgeries by which no properly-
informed "archaeologist " could be deceived for a moment.
In regard to the stone mortars, discovered in large quantities in
the gold-bearing gravels of California, Major Powell states that they
"are identical in every respect with those found in modern times,"
and he suggests that they may have been used by the Indians to
grind acorns in. But this is entirely at variance with the statement
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April 1890.] NOTES AND NJIWS. 199
of Mr. Skertchly in an article ** On the Occurrence of Stone Mortars
in the Ancient (Pliocene?) River Gravels of Butte County, Cali-
fornia/* published in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of
Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XVII, pp. 332-337 (Jan. 10, 1888).
He says "This country was inhabited by the Digger Indians until
about the year 1865. My friend, Mr. Glass [the superintendent of
the Spring Valley Gold Mine], was well acquainted with them, and
assures me that they did not use such mortars. They hollowed out
rocks in situ and therein pounded the acorns on which they so
largely subsisted. They were acquainted with these mortars, but
knew nothing about the makers of them, and held them in such
superstitious dread that on no accoimt could they be induced to touch
one."
Again, Major Powell does not discriminate sharply enough between
''palaeolithic implements,*' properly so-called, and those of a simi-
lar rude type, which were manufactured and used by the Indians at
or about the time of the advent of the Europeans to these shores.
I suppose he has in mind the error into which Mr. Wilson has
fallen in his article in the Anthropologist, for July, 1889 (vol. II, p.
239), on The Paleolitfdc Period in the District of Columbia, that
" the distinct type of implement called paleolithic is not known to
have been used by the American Indian." I have taken too many
of them with my own hands out of Indian "shell heaps" not to.
know the contrary. There is no difference in "type" between
them, and the. sole distinction lies in the circumstances under which
they have been found. I wish Major Powell had made this clear, as
he certainly believes in it.
It is greatly to be regretted that Major Powell should, seem to
question the genuineness of the carvings and drawings upon bone,
ivory, or reindeer horn, which have been discovered in the cave-
dwellings of the Dordogne, in Southern France. I am sure he would
not have done so if he had ever seen any of the originals, and he
must have been misled by poor engravings of them. For this rea-
son I regret the more that I have not been able to find a purchaser
in this country for the fine collection of them, made by the Vicomte
Lastec St. Jal, from the celebrated cavern of Bruniquel. It would
then be plain to see that " these unskilled savages could cut pictures
on bone, and possessed the knowledge and skill needed to represent
relief in form and relations in space, " just as, it might be observed,
the recent Eskimo have done. The more careful publications.
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200 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
however, of the collections of MM. Massenat and Piette have given
even those who have not had the advantage of personal inspection
the ability to judge accurately about the genuineness of these most
important contributions to the history of the artistic development of
mankind. Henry W. Havnes.
Bosnoij,yanuary 4, 1890.
Archa«ologic Discovery in Idaho. — In a recent address before
the Brooklyn Institute Prof. S. Frederick Wright announced an
archaeologic discovery in Idaho, a short notice of which appeared
in the Scientific American of November 9, 1889, and more recently
in Scribner's for February, 1890. The account states that an arte-
sian well was being bored at Nampa, Idaho, by Mr. M. A. Kurtz.
The drill was used until the lava deposits were passed, when a sand
pump was introduced, and at the depth of 320 feet a small figurette
was brought up which is described as apparently the figure of a
female, one arm and leg being missing. The image was first sup-
posed to be of fine pumice stone, but, upon examination by Profes-
sors Putnam and Haynes, it appears to be made of stiff clay, with a
coating of oxide of iron, which gives it a mottled appearance. The
latter p;entlemen are said to be well satisfied of the genuineness of
the image and of the fact that it is of considerable antiquity* With
reference to the all important question of the antiquity of the find,
Prof. S. F. Emmons, of the U. S. Geological Survey, is of the
opinion that the beds from which the image is said to have come
are probably older than any deposits fi-om which human implements
have hitherto been derived. The beds in question were laid down
prior to the lava flows which overlay it, and the depth of the cafion
which the Snake river has cut in its present course through the lava
is the time measure relied upon by Prof. Emmons. It is to be ob-
served, however, that no detailed geological study of the region in
question has yet been made, and, as Prof. Emmons himself states,
such a study is absolutely necessary ere any reliable estimate of the age
of the sand deposits can be made.
H. W. Henshaw.
/
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'^ ' V i.^
THE
American Anthropologist.
Vol. III. WASHINGTON. D. C, JULY, 1890. . . No. 3.
CUSTOMS OF COURTEST.
BY GARRICK MALLERY.
Few ceremonial customs have originated in recent times. Their
forms, whether now trivial or still important in Sociology, are
vestiges of the past and only by anthropologic studies are traceable
to their genesis and early form. All authorities, unswayed by a
religious or theorizing bias, agree that in the origin of these cere-
monies there was nothing designed or intentional — that is, they were
not directly invented with definite purposes. A thing is not now
and never has been customarily done because it is intrinsically right,
but is considered to be right after and because it has been habitu-
ally done, whatever its origin or the circumstances in which it pre-
vailed.
The rules of courteous behavior as they now exist are not the
immediate effect of deliberate conventions, but are the natural and
slow product of the forces gradually developing social life, and they
exhibit the laws of evolution with as great distinctness as is demon-
strated in the physical realm. Men have not fabricated though
they have framed rules for themselves. They have fallen into the
customs from which rules were framed, and then by unintended
modifications have deviated into novelty and new rules.
Oriental philosophy regards our scientific studies as futile. With
its watchwords on the one hand of Kismet, on the other of Nirvana,
it pronounces as worthy of attention only those subjects which are
relegated by the professed agnostic to the limbo of the unknowable,
and by most believers in religious creeds to the nebula of the super-
natural.
26 (201)
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202 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The classic Greek philosophy of the archaic is illustrated when
Ion invokes —
Ye eldest gods
Who in no statues of exactest form
Are palpable ; who shun the azure heights
Of beautiful Olympus, and the sound
Of ever young Apollo's minstrelsy ;
Yet * * * keep revengeful watch
On falling nations and on kingly lines !
But this is an example of ** looking backward" in which the
Greek poets sought to start the machinery of their cosnrology. In
the truly primitive times there were no nations to fall because none
had yet arisen, and no kingly lines for gods to watch. Neither
were those eldest gods the grand concepts of Greek culture at its
acme. The gods earliest in date were fashioned from the crude
imaginings of the earlier men. The latter were chiefly concerned,
besides scraping up a subsistence, about the interpretation of dreams,
and the invention of totems and taboos. Connected with these were
names and titles, lines of paint and tattoo and the forms of meet-
ing and greeting. In short, they were occupied on things which to
us seem insignificant, but which in their developed forms have
moulded and marked the institutions of the world though, becom-
ing abbreviated and disguised in their long descent, they are now
but faintly traceable.
To the query ** why do nations and peoples do anything as a cus-
tom?" the optimist answers " because it is right," which assump-
tion yet further confuses the vexed question whether, in the nature
of things, there is an absolute right and an absolute wrong ; for
customs vary even unto opposition in different parts of the world,
and not only in different but in the same periods of history. There-
fore they cannot all be absolutely right. In matters large and small,
vital and trivial, what is esteemed as virtue and merit at one place
and time is condemned at others as vice and crime. Explanation
has been attempted on the theory that there are distinct races of
men each of which has its idiosyncrasy; indeed, that by primordial
decree each of them had the mission to do certain things and no
others. By such theory fatalism is omnipotent and all mea are
marionettes. But this explanation depends upon a conceded classi-
fication of men into races, which has failed. A few years ago school-
boys glibly recited the titles of the races of men with their charac-
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July 1890.] CUSTOMS OF COURTESY. 203
teristics ; but now students who have devoted long lives to the subject
find such classification to be so difficult that no two writers agree.
This does not indicate the proposition that there are no distinct races
of men ; indeed, it is possible that once there were many more races
than have ever been recognized, the present condition being one of
amalgamation. But the plot of the marionette show becomes con-
fused when there is no agreement about its personages.
The chief justice of a high court lately declared that no race of men
was good for anything which had not believed in only one God and
allowed only one wife. As all the races of men have at some time
believed in many gods and have allowed a plurality of wives, this
dictum would condemn all ; but it is an example of hysteron-proteron,
or ** the cart before the horse." If the statement had been that poly-
theism and polygamy must be abandoned before the attainment of
high culture is possible, it would have been historically true ; but
as made, it is as inaccurate as to assert that no race is good for any-
thing in which the men have not always worn trousers — a useful but
recent invention of civilization. Instead of seeking an explanation
of customs in race, it is more practical, as well as more scientific, to
look for it in habitat and history — /. ^., in environment.
As a general remark, while the optimist declares about customs
that '* whatever is, is right,'* the anthropologist, knowing the once
prevading potence of religions, may change the phrase to ** what-
ever is, is a rite," though perhaps the rite is in ruins.
An apparent exception occurs in the arbitrary edicts of fashion,
styled very properly by Borachio as " g deformed thief; " but a dis-
tinction may readily be made between custom and fashion. Fashion
is imitative and transitory. It is most commonly noticed in de-
tails of dress or ornament designed by some influential person to
conceal a defect or display a beauty ; sometimes, however, in latter
days by a conspiracy of manufacturers, tailors, or milliners. With
the cessation of the special influence the imitation gradually de-
clines, unless, indeed, genuine merits are discerned in the invention,
in which case it is assimilated through the vital catalysine faculty.
The method of human progress is empirical. The good and useful,
when ascertained by experiment, are retained for further improve-
ment throughout the ages, while the nocuous or useless are sooner
or later rejected.
Some interest attaches to the word etiquette. It is probably an
orderly French corruption of the formula ^^ est hie questio inter N.
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204 THE AMEKICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
&* JV,** endorsed by the French procureurs upon their law papers,
similar to our " JV. versus iV./' from which the primary French
meaning of the word in the sense of a label or 'ticket evidently
originated. As Etiquettes were fastened outside of documents or
parcels to indicate their contents and place, so Etiquettes were given
to people on ceremonial occasions to tell them where to stand and
what to do. Thence grew up the secondary use of the term as de-
scriptive of the ceremonies themselves. Therefore the slang phrase
of approbation "that's the ticket" is etymologically correct.
The subject of the origin and history of customs is an immense
one. Even its division of ceremonial institutions is far too large
for the present limits. The writer essayed an initiative to it in
"Manners and Meals** (American Anthropologist, Vol. I,
No. 3). The single group now selected as an example fe that of
verbal forms of salutation (those by gesture and posture to be
hereafter presented), with such other ceremonial forms as are ex-
planatory of or intimately connected with such salutations. In
this the text-books will not be copied ; indeed, some of the views
presented are at variance with those of received authorities. In par-
ticular they dissent, though meekly, from some details in the work
of that great writer and thinker, Herbert Spencer. No one can over
prize his comprehensive grasp of intellect, his lucidity of style, and
his wealth of illustration, but more especially the inspiring and far-
reaching suggestiveness by which he has awakened and 'guided
modern thought. Yet he is more beneficent as an educator of the
mind than as an instructor ii^ facts. In particular, his most admir-
ing student must lament the Zoroastrian phantasy or dual antagonism
of good and evil that mystifies his Principles of Sociology. To him
militancy is Ahriman anil industrialism is Ormuzd, and their con-
flict is forced to explain all the myriad problems of human life.
But the known causes and effects are too numerous and diverse to
be disposed of by one universal solvent. The complex knots must
be patiently untied, and cannot be severed by the rusty sword of a
vamped and varnished Parsee dualism. Nor does history confirm
this prosopopoeia of good and evil. Industrialism began very early,
and is now in a high state of development among the most cultured
nations; yet it exhibits within itself strife and turmoil, selfishness
and cruelty, equal to all the similar crimes ever charged against mili-
tancy. The latter has by no means passed away, though the human
race has surely advanced. In fact, an evolutionary advance is mani-
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July 1890.] CUSTOMS OF COUKTESY. 205
fest in militancy itself parallel with that seen in other lines of thought
and action. Militancy, therefore, is not the cacodemon by whose
overthrow alone the world has grown better.
The verbal forms of salutation may be divided into — i, those of
a purely religious character ; 2, those equivalent to a prayer for the
health and temporal good of the person saluted ; 3, those simply
wishing health and prosperity without direct invocation of a deity ;
and, 4, those expressing personal or official affection or respect.
1. The Israelites, both in meeting and parting, used a word
meaning "blessing,** and the person addressed was thereby com-
mended to God. The expressions " Blessed be thou of the Lord ! **
and **The Lord be with thee ! *' are traditional.
The Arabian often says, " God grant thee his favours ! ** also
** Thank^God ! how are you? ** and the Turk, ** My prayers are for
thee ** or ** Forget me not in thy prayers.** In Poland a visitor to
a house will cry out, " The Lord be praised ! ** to which the hostess
will answer, ** World without end. Amen ! *' The ** sweet girl gradu-
ates** of conventual schools in this country involuntarily answer
a knock at their doors by the word ** toujours ** instead of ** come
in ! ** through the habit formed when the sister at the convent dor-
mitory door used a formula in praise of the Virgin Mary, to which
the obligatory response was "forever!** Very lately a similar
custom prevailed throughout Spain by which the visitor ejaculated
"Maria purissima!'* the reply being "sin pecado concebida!**
On other occasions the Spaniards say, " Vaya con Dios ! ** — " Go
with God ! *' In the Tyrol people exchange the formula " Praised
be Jesus Christ ! '* and the Neapolitans that of " Increase in holi-
ness ! *'
2. The forms of greeting that pray for the health and well-being- of
the friend addressed are distributed generally. Indeed, our term
"salutation** is derived from the Latin saiuSy and simular etymol.
ogies are found in other languages. The Ottoman cries, " Be under
the guard of God ! *' In Arabia on the first meeting of the day the
proper phrase is " May God strengthen your morning ! ** or " May
your morning be good ! ** The Persian begins his polite address
with "I make prayers for thy greatness.'* The return to a saluta-
tion in the Orient is sometimes not only religious but non-com-
mittal. If an Arab is directly asked about his health he responds
" Praise be to God ! ** leaving his condition to be inferred from the
modulation of his voice. If the form of the query is " Is it well with
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206 THIfi AMKRICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
thee? *' the answer is " God bless and preserve thee ! " The Zufii
exchange the prayer ** May the light of the gods rest with thee ! "
Neither the English '*good bye'* or the French ** adieu" need
l)e explained, but an example within the writer's observation may
be offered to show how meaningless words of ceremony originally
significant may become, and how easily they may be adopted.
The Micmacs two centuries ago picked up among a few French
expressions that of ''Adieu '* as the proper word in friendly parting,
and now commonly use it with the idea that it belongs to their
own language. When questioned as to when they got it from the
French, one of the chiefs haughtily exclaimed, "We did not get it from
the French ; they got it from us ! * ' It may be noted that the French
have in **au revoir" an alternative and less religious form used in
parting, and other nations have similar expressions. The Cingalese
bluntly say, '* I will go and come.*'
3. The general wish for health and prosperity, of which the
English ** farewell'* as distinguished from "good bye** is an ex-
ample, is often only implied in the query showing interest as to the
present possession of those blessings. The Arabs reiterate the query
" How are you? ** for some minutes, and, when well brought up, after-
wards interrupt the subject of the conversation by again interjecting
" How are you? *' many times. Our *' how d*you do? *' has almost lost
significance, as it is seldom noticed except by reciprocation ; no one
supposing it to be a dond fide request for information. Many other
salutations abroad as well as at home — e,g,^ "Good morning,** "Hot
day,*' " Cold day,** or other meteorologic comments — are now mere
watchwords or countersigns to indicate that the parties meeting are on
good terms. Indeed, the origin of many old forms is the distinct
declaration of peace, which was practically useful in the turbulent
days when an enemy was more frequently met than a friend. This
" passing the time of day ** is now common at the occasional meet-
ing of good-natured persons, by which the inane words form the
friendly recognition of one of the same race. In Fiji the time of
day regulates the terms of greeting. The inferior, before beginning
his salute to the superior, always looks up at the sun and uses the
phrase appropriate to its height.
The Chinese sojourners in Utah fell into a curious blunder in
using some of our phrases. On meeting a resident at any time of
day or night they called out " Good morning ! *' and on parting,
"Good night!** even if it was before breakfast. A similar
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July 1890.] CUSTOMS OP COURTESY. 207
error in imitation was made by the Zufii. When the officers
from Fort Wingate visited the Pueblo they were naturally anx-
ious to reach the trader's store, so they called out to the first
person met, **How are you? Where's the store?'* The Zufii
caught up all the sounds as one greeting and in the kindness of
their hearts shouted them to all subsequent visitors. The salutation
** How-are-you — give-me-a-match " has a like explanation.
Moslems, while scrupulously saluting the meanest of their own
communion, refuse all friendly greetings to the Jews. If inadvert-
ently they have accosted one of that people with ** Peace be unto
you," or the like, they will hastily add ** Death to you ! " to which
the Jew may respond, pretending to have heard only the beginning,
by "The same to you ! " in a spirit somewhat different from that
in which the same words are used by us in answer to ** Many happy
returns ! " on birth-day and other anniversaries. It may be men-
tioned that where the Jews are in power they give no salute what-
ever to one of the Goim, but scowl at him.
The North American Indians do not have many conventional
forms of salutation. Their etiquette generally is to meet in silence
and smoke before speaking, the smoking being the real salutation.
But a number of tribes — e. g., the Shoshoni, Caddo, and Arikara —
use a word or sound very similar to How ! but in proper literation
Hau or Hao. Most of the Sioux use the same sound in communi-
cation with the whites, from which the error has arisen that they
have caught up and abbreviated the ** How are you? " of the latter.
But the word is ancient, used in councils, and means "good,"
or "satisfactory." It is a response as well as an address or saluta-
tion. The Navajo say, both at meeting and parting, "Agalani," an
archaic word the etymology of which is not yet ascertained. Among
the Cheroki the colloquy is as follows : No. i says, "siy6," good ;
No. 2 responds, " siyu ; tdhigwatsO? " good ; are you in peace ? To
this No. I says, " I am in p)eace, and how is it with you ? " No. 2 ends
by " I am in peace also." Among the Zufii happiness is always as-
serted as well as implored. In the morning their greeting is " How
have you passed the night? " in the evening, " How have you come
unto the sunset ? * ' The reply always is * ' Happily. * ' After a separ-
ation of even short duration, if more than one day, the question is
asked, "How have you passed these many days ? " The reply is
invariably, "Happily," although the person addressed maybe in
severe suffering or dying. In quaint contrast with this Zufii custom
is that of the Japanese, where the party visited asserts the pros|)erity
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208 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. 111.
of the visitor. The host and hostess politely ejaculate " Ohayo
gozarismasu ! " — ** You have come quickly ! " — which welcome is
given even if the visitor has suffered delay and all kinds of mishaps.
It is never contradicted. Perhaps our expression ** You have been
long in coming," as indicating longing and waiting, is no more
artificial.
An interesting point in this connection is the objection of some
peoples to being praised for flourishing health which is never ad-
mitted. For instance, to the Cingalese the expression " you look
weir* or " you have become stout ** is very annoying, the reason
being that the notice of malign deities would be attracted to their
fortunate condition upon which it would be destroyed. This illus-
trates the old story of the jealous gods, and the pdwer of evil being
the most important deity, and recalls many classic fables in several
lands and languages, among others that of the ring of Polycrates.
That this dread survives among some of the peasantry of Europe
appears in their invariable refusal to respond that they are perfectly
well, and a similar superstition has recently been reported from
the mountains of North Carolina. The Chinese, in greeting, not
only depreciate their own status, but exaggerate that of the party
of the other part. The established ritual averages thus : **How is
the excellent health enjoyed by your wealthy and accomplished
highness, and that of the brilliant full moon his spouse, and of the
strong lions his sons, and graceful gazelles his daughters?*' The
obligatory response would be ; ** The ignorant beggar whom your
benevolence deigns to notice is in his usual condition of dirt and
disease, and the sow his wife and pigs his offspring starve in their
old filthy sty.'* Perhaps the elegant expressions of response by
cultured persons in absolute health, ** quite well, thank you,*'
'* passably,'* ** about the same,** and the like, considered to be a
polite avoidance of boasting, have their origin in high antiquity.
Persons of general intelligence in the most civilized nations yet
show relics of the dread of daimons when an epidemic prevails.
It was lately noticeable here that the response about freedom from
the grippe generally contained some qualification — ** haven't got it
yet,** or the like.
The wish of salute is often specific, connected with the circum-
stances of environment. The people of Cairo anxiously ask, ** How
do you perspire?** a dry skin being the symptom of the dreaded
fever. In hot Persia the friendly wish is expressed ** May God cool
your age ! *' — that is, give you comfort in declining years. In the
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v , /
-,. , .V,
U • - -« ^ ^ - /^
July 1890.] CUSTOMS OP cou»i^4rrj '^ i^ J> '^ 209
same lancj originates the quaint form " May your shadow never be
less ! " which does not apply, as often now used in Europe, to the
size and plumpness of the body as indicating robust health, but to
deprecate exposure to the noon sun, when all shadows are least.
The Genoese in their time of prosperity used the form ** health
and gain ! '* In some of the Polynesian isles the prayer for cool-
ness is carried into action, it being the highest politeness to fling a
jar of water over a friend's head. According to Humboldt the
morning salute on the Orinoco is ** How have the mosquitoes used
you?*' The old religious views of the Persians are found in their
wishes: "Live forever!" and (still retained in Spain, probably a
direct legacy from the Moors), ** May you live a thousand years ! "
They believed only in this life, and that through divine favor it
might be unlimited.
Some quaint theories have been presented with regard to the
special phraseology of verbal salutation among several nations. It
is contended that the Romans expressed their main interest con-
cerning the vigor constituting the basis of a warlike nation by
''quomodo vales?" literally, "how is your strength?" The French
"comment vous portez-vous? " is supposed to be appropriate to a
people attaching great value to agility and the manner in which the
body is supported on its legs for immediate motion. The Italian
" come sta ella? " may have reference to the posing dignity of the
nation, while the German " wie befinden sie sich?" suggests the
analytical and self-inspecting character of the Teutons. In the
English "how do you do?" Krummacher, laying great emphasis
on the word " do " as denoting action, distinguishes the energy of
the people.
4* The terms of affection in greeting are too numerous to be now
recited. The following are mentioned as unhackneyed and of in-
terest. Some Orientals say " Thou hast made me desolate by thine
absence from me," and the ordinary form of greeting among the
Zulus is simply " I see you and I am glad."
The variant phrases of respect are also multitudinous. Perhaps
the most distinct form in which the common and ancient expression
of the East, " I am your slave," survives in Western Europe, is in
the Piedmont district of Italy. The Spaniards, through the influence
of Moors and Jews, have many relics of Orientalism. Its features
become colloquial in the form Usted contracted from " Vuestra
merced," your mercy, your grace, often appearing in the phrase " I
kiss my hands to your grace " and " I kiss your grace's hands."
27
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210 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
But the forms of respect and subservience, more than those of affec-
tion, have become establisheed into titles of honor and nobility ;
therefore can be presented with some defined system not boundless
as are the epithets poured from the ardent imaginings of friends and
lovers.
It is not, however, possible now to attack the grandiose division
of human vanity to which Selden alone devoted one thousand printed
folio pages. Perhaps the only civil title of ceremony, as distinct
from official designation, legally existing in this country is that of
Esquire, which has almost fallen into disuse, being chiefly employed
by attomeys-at-law. But they have a right to it. An esquire was
originally an attendant on a knight, but later in England the title
was given to all officers of the crown, which included attorneys,
who are officers of the courts. Hence the English jest of the last
century that attorneys were only " gentlemen by act of Parliament.**
Such acts, being in force in our colonial period, applied to attorneys
here, also officers of court.
Mister, corrupted from master, is but an abbreviation of magister,
once corresponding with our term ** magistrate," another instance
of a dignified title becoming meaningless through indiscriminate ap-
plication.
Sir, which has ceased to be a title in becoming the general form
of address, has been generally derived directly from Sieur, the ab-
breviation of Seigneur, implying the lordship of land so essential to
the feudal system that the l^gal maxim ran, "point de terre sans
seigneur ; * * but the derivation of sieur and sire was from the same root,
originally signifying "senior** — i, <?., elder, with the synonym of
father. The form "sire** anteceded that of "sieur,** and un-
doubtedly the term of respect involving the concept of elder and
father long preceded the ownership of land. Terms of rank and
gradation founded on seniority and paternity are fundamental in
the sociology of the North American Indians, prevailed among the
founders of Rome, and, as terms of respectful address, are still com-
mo*n in Asia and eastern Europe. Therefore when you address a
man as * * sir* * you etymologically imply that he is your father.
The subject of titles in the United States presents some amusing
features. The constitution prohibits titles of nobility, and of course
the people insist upon all other kinds of titles, thereby proving the ac-
curacy of the Roman poet's oft-quoted lines about the futility of cast-
ing out nature with a pitch-fork. Not only does a day's possession
of any office baptize the possessor with a title for the remainder of
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] CUSTOMS OF COURTESY. 211
his life, but often official or professional titles are bestowed from
mere fancy ; so that Colonel, Judge, and Doctor only imply some
peculiarity in figure, manner, or clothing. In this multiplicity and
plethora it is ridiculous for men to confer titles upon themselves
without authority, as some do. It is far more dignified and distin-
guished not to bear or allow any. This is not on the principle, often
too broadly asserted, that ** the post of honor is a private station,** but
because all titles of honor and distinction have been degraded by mis-
use — e. g.y that of Professor, now the perquisite of balloonists and
jugglers. But there can be no argument with a superstition. The
best treatment of the folly would be that advocated to settle the liquor
question — by high license and strict inspection. Let every man take
what title he may choose, but pay for the privilege. The result would
be that the craving would diminish or the revenue increase from the
taxation of a useless luxury— either of which is a desideratum.
The special devices in grammar to mark grade of rank in address
require too much detail for more than passing notice. In some
languages obliquity and indirection are adopted ; for instance, the
third person singular to address inferiors, the third person plural to
superiors. The respect included in the idea of plurality, found also
in sign language and pictographs, induced the general complimentary
change from thou to you when but one person is addressed, though
the expression has become so trite that its grammatical irregularity
is not noticed. The regal first person plural was assumed by the
Merovingian kings of France in formal decree and has since been
continuously used by sovereigns and heads of government. Its
adoption in the editorials of newspapers is perhaps in pretense of
grandeur, but has some use because of its impersonality.
The connection between oral and written address is close, from
which there is a natural transition to the formal parts of letters ; but
it is needless to dwell upon adjectives of affection and subservience
used with the address and signature. There are, however, some
interesting points connected with the disposition of the address and
signatures without reference to the phraseology. It is now merely
a matter of individual taste whether the name of the person ad-
dressed shall precede the substance of a letter or follow that of the
writer on the left hand, as is considered stylish by some social cor-
respondents. But not long ago this was a point of supreme im-
portance in social as it still continues to be in diplomatic corre-
spondence. The name first appearing assumed the higher political
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212 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
or social rank, and the relative position may pay a compliment or
inflict an insult. It is also now supposed that the practice of occu-
pying a line by the address and perhaps separating it by a vacant
line from the body of the communication is a mere matter of con-
venience, but the space in question was once the subject of elaborate
regulation. A private person writing to royalty used the largest sheet
of paper procurable, and only four written lines at the bottom of the
first page could be used to commence the communication, the remain-
der of the page being left blank after the formal title, which should
be distributed through at least five lines. Six lines of the epistle to a
prince might appear on the first page, and so on in graduation.
Wars have been occasioned by the breach of this etiquette. The
enmity between Cardinal Richelieu and the Duke of Buckingham
arose because his haughty eminence addressed the Duke without
leaving any space open after the title of Monsieur, which insult his
grace returned, in the same paper-sparing manner.
A graceful epistolary custom, in the line of salutation, is recorded
by Madame de Genlis. It was a strict requirement among the
French, who then made social laws for Europe, that all men, even
the princes of the blood, should place the word ** respect** in letters
written to any woman. The French still use in such letters the
phrase " respectful homage.'*
Some interest attaches to the mode of sending invitations to din-
ner and other formal parties. The superstitious, or, at least, irra-
tional, ceremony in this regard is the edict still prevailing, that the
invitations should not be sent by mail but by private hand. It is
certain that in the modern regulations of the post office in large
cities transmission of any considerable number of notes by mail is
much more certain and expeditious than if private messengers were
employed. Yet it is regarded as a serious dereliction to utilize the
agency of the government in such cases. An explanation is derived
from the time when givers of entertainments were supposed to sup-
port a large body of personal retainers whose main occupation was
to convey commands to their subordinates and invitations to equals.
Now very few persons employ servants in sufficient number to make
delivery of many notes on the same day convenient The pretense
of such retinue is, therefore, a survival of an earlier social con-
dition, but the curious point is that by a conversion of ideas it is
the recipient of invitations by mail who now considers his dig-
nity to be thereby impugned. It may be noted that the Algonkins
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] CUSTOMS OF COURTESY. 213
of the Ottawa before 1636 used to send out as dinner invitations
specially cut pieces of wood about the size of the little finger. It
was necessary to show these as tickets of admission to the feast.
Use of visiting cards comes in the same category with invitations.
The great inconvenience connected with personal visits of mere
ceremony has rendered it customary to adopt the expedient of leav-
ing cards, which are very seldom deposited by all the individuals
whose names they bear, and not infrequently, all pretense of personal
presentation being abandoned, they are sent by mail. This abbre-
viated form of courtesy is of manifest advantage, and is in the di-
rect line of evolution. It may be compared to that invention of
the praying machine by the Buddhists, in which- printed formulas
of supplication are expedited to their divine address with regulated
degrees of fervency by the revolution of a wheel, thereby attaining
every purpose with great economy of time. It is gratifying to learn
that a late Minister Resident of the United States to a European
capital came to the front boldly on the card question, and kept be-
fore him a supply of his own visiting cards, a specimen of which
he handed to each visitor as the interview ended, expressing the
hope that as his excellency's time was so occupied the card might
then and there be received as the equivalent of a personal return ,
call.
All rules and details relating to addresses, titles, and ceremonial
visits involve the assertion of and contention for precedence. These
factors are of immemorial antiquity, being traceable to the prin-
ciple of the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest, and
have diminished with the decreased operation of that principle
among men, not with the discontinuance of militancy. The extent
of the surviving attention to precedence in England, as gathered
from the mere literature on the subject, would be misleading.* In
the heraldic catalogues there are eighty-nine distinct sets of men
above the rank of a burgess, who have their specified places in pro-
cessions and even at ceremonious dinner parties, but every-day life
is little affected thereby, always, however, remembering Thackeray's
dictum that an " Englishman does love a lord.** As regards cere-
monies at dinner parties, the compliment of being served first has
its disadvantages. Unless the guest thus distinguished exhibits
greediness, the food placed before him will become either too cold
or too warm before the others of the company can be ready. This
is another case where the mean is golden.
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214 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. HI.
The most illustrative notes on precedence appear in diplomatic
history. Once at the court of France the envoys of Genoa and
Brandenburg, being unable to agree as to which should present him-
self first to the king, stipulated that whichever first reached the
palace on the day appointed should have the first audience. The
prudent Prussian sought to make himself safe by sitting down on a
bench in the hall of the palace all the night before; but the treach-
erous Italian, arriving near the proper hour and seeing his adversary
half asleep on the bench, slipped by into the royal bedroom. Prece-
dence must be maintained for mere dignity, without any direct ob-
ject ; so two ambassadors who met face to face on the bridge at
Prague were obliged to stop there for the entire day because neither
of them would disgrace his country by letting the other pass.
Ambassadors sought to increase the importance of their em-
ployers by fighting for their own. In 1661 the Spanish envoy at-
tacked the carriage of the French ambassador in the streets of Lon-
don, hamstrung his horses and killed his men ; then went on joyfully
with the conviction that he had done his duty, and that his rival
could not get to court before him.
In cases of milder action it was usual to stipulate, by previous
arrangement, for absolute and exact equality in every detail. This
was the plan pursued when Mazarin and Don Louis de Haro met to
settle the conditions of the marriage between Louis XIV. and Maria
Theresa. The two ministers stepped together, with the right foot,
side by side, into a council -chamber hung in corresponding halves
with their respective colors, and sat down at the same instant pre-
cisely opposite each other at a critically square table on two mathe-
matically equivalent arm-chairs.
The last connected chapter of Macaulay's History shows amusingly
the waste of time and energy in which Kaunitz and Harlay watched
one another's legs at the Congress of Ryswick lest a priority in muscu-
lar action should jeopardize, as the mere watching delayed, the peace
of two continents. One of the most stupidly arrogant assertions of
precedence was made by Napoleon in 1808. The Almanach de
Gotha had just been printed for that year with the regular alphabetical
arrangement of the reigning houses, beginning with the Anhalt
duchies, but the parvenu Emperor suppressed the edition and required
the whole to be printed with his name on the first page.
** Giving " or '* taking the wall *' in passing, so frequently alluded
to in Shakespeare and other authors of his time as an indication of
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] CUSTOMS OP CX)UllTESY. 215
rank, had tangible loss or advantage, as in the narrow and crowded
street, destitute of sidewalks, proximity to the wall was safer and
more convenient. But the same precedence on entering or leaving
a room or passing through a door- way was contended for in vanity
and pretension. A happy example of the modern politeness in
which, both in form and fact, egotism has yielded to altruism is shown
in the rivalry, now so frequent, when two men accidentally meet
at a door or other passage, by which each presses the other to ad-
vance, thus showing a survival in reverse of the old contention for
precedence.
Upon a general summary of the whole subject of salutation, it is
obvious that it was once a serious tax upon time. Both in the Old
and New Testament injunction was given, whenever expedition was
required, '* to salute no man by the way." The minute, tedious,
and verbose politeness of the East was an insuperable impediment
to rapid travel, and this is still the case among peoples of low culture
such as the Araucanians, whose formalities of meeting and greeting
occupy at least a quarter of an hour.
The utmost abbreviation of such forms appears among the most
cultured of modern peoples and, through saving of time, is directly
in the evolutionary line of utility; but it has still further significance.
The phrases of ancient peoples and of existing savages and barbarians
show intention to gain some definite Or indefinite advantage by the
special act of salutation. They are generally limited to classes and in-
dividuals, are sometimes with petition for or in declaration of peace,
are made in personal placation or are the exchange of supplications to
whatever deities or daimons may be credited with power. Cultured
I)eople do not now regard these objects to be appropriately con-
nected with salutations of courtesy. They now use a brief, nearly
meaningless formula almost indiscriminately, so that it has no special
relation to the persons saluting and saluted or to their respective
status. It is the recognition by one human being of another and is
the best mark of real culture, its absence characterizing the savage
or the boor. Its spirit is found in Talfourd's lines.
It is a little thing to speak a phrase
Of common comfort, which by daily use
Has almost lost its sense ; yet * * 'twill fall
Like choicest music ♦ « *
To him who else were lonely, that another
Of the great family is near and feels.
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216 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
But it is not a little thing that a simple, kind recognition from
man to man, even if often perfunctory, should replace the terms of
elaborate egoism and stupid superstition. It is a sign of the evolu-
tion in which —
Love took up the harp of Life and * *
Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, passed in music out of sight.
Danish Investigations in Greenland, i 8 76-* 88. — In a late
number of the Geografisk Tidskrift (the journal of the Geographical
Society in Copenhagen), v. 10, Nos. 3, 4, pp. 86-94, Dr. Rink
reviews the work done by the Danes in Greenland during this
period, as shown by the contents of the '* Meddelelserom Gr0nland/*
which irregular periodical has now reached its twelfth volume.
He reviews the investigations under nine headings, namely : Gen-
eral geography of the country ; formation of ice on land, glaciers ;
hydrography ; surveying, astronomical observations ; meteorological
and other physical observations ; geology and mineralogy ;. botany;
zoology; ethnography and archaeology. Under the last heading
he speaks a few well-deserved words of praise for Capt. Holm's ex-
cellent report on the East Greenlanders, which forms vol. 10 of the
"Meddelelser,'* and enumerates the following papers which have
appeared in the series :
Jensen: '* Ruiner fra Nordboernes Tid*' (v. i, p. 27).
Steenstrup: "Gedigent Jaern i en eskimoisk grav (v. 4, p. 121)
Steenstrup: '*0m eskimoiske grave'* (v. 5, pp. 21, 25, and 37)
Holm : *' Almindelig beskrivelse of ruinerne i Julianehaabs dis
trikt (Osterbygden),** with many plans and sketches (v. 6, art. 3)
Jensen : ** Fjordene ved Holsteinborg efter aeldre Beretninger (v,
8, p. 43)-
Jensen : ** Ruinerne i Godthaabs Distrikt (Vesterbygden) (v. 8,
p. 100).
On pages 21, 249, and 254 of the same are miscellaneous notes
by Hammer and Ryder on the Greenlanders and the former habita-
tion of North Greenland.
Stenstrup: "Om Osterbygden, de gamle Kursforskrifter og
Kaart" (v. 9, art. i).
Rink, H. : **The Eskimo Tribes" (in English) forming vol. 11
of the series. John Murdoch.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] A WEST VIRGINIA ROCK-SHELTER. 217
A WEST VIRGINIA ROCK-SHELTER.
BY W. H. HOLMES.
Through the representations of Mr. G. F. Queen, Mr. L. V.
McWhorter, of West Virginia, was induced to open a correspondence
with the Director of the Bureau of Ethnology in regard to an interest-
ing cave or rock-shelter located in Harrison county, that State.
The walls of this cave were said to be covered with pictographs, and
the probability of securing material of importance to archaeologic
science seemed so great that I was instructed to visit the locality
and make examinations. The journey was undertaken in Septem-
ber, 1889.
The geographical position of the site did not lead me to expect
discoveries of unusual interest, as the region is remote from natural
thoroughfares and separated by physical barriers from the favorite
resorts of our ancient aborigines. A cave so situated could not be
expected to contain evidences of long or extensive occupation, either
by the mound-building nations of the west or by the tide-water tribes
of the Atlantic coast. From a consideration of the conditions, I was
led to expect precisely what, according to my own interpretation,
was found — ^a medicine or prayer resort of the hunter tribes of
comparatively recent times, probably of Algonkian or Iroquoian
stock. The only surprise that awaited me was the discovery of such
carefully elaborated and well preserved rock sculptures.
Locality, — In the southern part of Harrison county a small stream,
known as Two-Lick creek, heading near the Little Kanawha divide,
descends into the West Fork of the Monongahela at a point about
four miles west of Lost Creek Station, on the Clarksburg and Weston
railroad. Ascending the stream for a little more than two miles and
turning to the right up a tributary about two miles in length, called
Campbell's Run, we soon found ourselves facing, on the west side,
a deep amphitheatre-like ravine or hollow, nestled in the narrow
bottom of which are two farm cottages — the lower belonging to Mrs.
Queen and the upper to Mr. Lawson. On the sloping hillside a
few hundred feet above the house of the latter occurs the slight out-
crop of sandstone beneath which is the shelter.
28
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218 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Tlu Shelter, — A nearly horizontal stratum of massive carbonifer-
ous sandstone, in places exposed to a thickness of twenty feet or
more, outcrops at various points around the lower slopes of the
valley. At the shelter, some fifty feet above the stream bed, it is ex-
posed to the thickness of ten or twelve feet and for a horizontal dis-
tance of perhaps thirty feet, with slight outcrops at the right and left.
The slopes below and above are very steep, but are under cultivation
nearly to the hill-tops, which are here 300 or 400 feet above the
stream bed.
The recess in the rocks is the result of local surface undermining
of the outcrop of sandstone assisted by roof degradation, and hence
is a typical rock-shelter. At the opening it is about twenty feet long
•and in the deepest part extends back sixteen feet. The floor is
nearly level, having recently been occupied by sheep, and a low,
weed-covered ridge of debris, partly closing the chamber, extends
along the outer edge beneath the eaves of the overhanging ledge.
The opening is about four feet in height toward the left, but is much
lower at the right. The uneven face of the shelving rock is from
two to five feet thick, and the exposed upper surface is in places per-
haps ten feet in width with the slope.
The roof of the shelter i^ unevenly arched and to the right of the
center reaches a height of nearly six feet ; toward the rear it curves
downward into the concave back wall upon which the figures are
engraved. The rock floor descends rapidly from the back wall and
soon passes beneath the accumulated debris.
Petroglyphs. — ^The rock sculptures, of which simplified outlines
are given in Fig. i, occupy the greater part of the back wall of the
recess, covering a space some twenty feet long by about four feet in
height. At the left the line of figures approaches the outer face of the
rock, but at the right it terminates in the depths of the chamber, be-
yond which the space is too low and uneven to be utilized. There
are indications that engravings have existed above and below those
shown in the sketch, but by exfoliation and falling of the roof and
by disintegration and wear near the floor, traces of these are too in-
distinct to be followed.
• If the animal figures, of which the picture is for the most part
made up, represent the deities of those who engraved them — and
this is the only tenable theory of their origin and executioh — it is
probable that one or more, pertaining to the upper regions, would
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July 1890.] A WEST VIRGINIA ROCK-SHBLTER. 219
occupy the higher parts of the wall or the rpof space overhead, and
that one or more, belonging to the lower regions, would occur on
the lower part of the available space. Be this as it may, it is prob-
able that the figures now seen comprise the most important part* of
the original work.
The more legible designs comprise three heads, resembling death's
heads, one human head or face, one obscure human figure, three
birds resembling cranes or turkeys (one with outspread wings), three
mountain lions or beasts of like character, two rattlesnakes, one
turtle, one turtle-like figure with bird's head, parts of several un-
identified creatures (one resembling a fish), and four conventional
figures or devices resembling— one a hand, one a star, one the track
of a horse, and the fourth the track of an elk, buffalo, deer, or
domestic cow.
The serpents, placed above and toward the right of the picture,
are much larger than life, but the other subjects are represented
somewhat nearly natural size. The animal figure facing the two
death's heads is drawn with considerable vigor and very decidedly
suggests the panther. A notable feature is the two back-curving
spines or spine-like tufts seen upon its shoulder; it is possible that
these represent some mythical character of the creature. Two of
the animal figures, in accordance with a wide-spread Indian practice,
exhibit the heart and the life line, the latter connecting the heart
with the mouth ; these features are, as usual, drawn in red.
The human head or face is somewhat larger than life ; it is neatly
hollowed out to the nearly uniform depth of one-fourth of an inch,
and is slightly polished over most of the surface. Ear lobes are
seen at the right and left, and an arched line, possibly intended for
a plume, rises from the left side of the head. A crescent-shaped
band of red extends across the face, and within this the eyes are
indistinctly marked. The mouth is encircled by a dark line and
shows six teeth, the spaces between being filled in with red.
Probably the most remarkable members of the series are the three
death's heads seen near the middle of the line. That they are in-
tended to represent skulls and not the living face or head is clear,
and the treatment is decidedly suggestive of that exhibited in simi-
lar work of the more cultured southern nations. The eye spaces
are large and deep, the cheek-bones project, the nose is depressed,
and the mouth is a mere node depressed in the center.
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220
THB AMBBICAN ANTHROPOLOQIST.
[Vol. III.
V
'A.-r^
I
. Exterior figures, — ^A few figures appear
upon the exterior face and upper surface of
the overhanging rock, and it is quite possi-
ble that others still have been obliterated by
weathering. There are now but two suffi-
ciently distinct to be made out; both are hu-
man'figures. The one on the right represents
a personage life size, with arms and legs ex-
tended to the right and left. The work is
identical in character with that upon the in-
terior of the chamber. The other figure, on
the face of the rock above the left-hand side
of the opening, is smaller and is about one-
half obliterated.
Execution. — All the figures are clearly and
deeply engraved and all save the serpents are
in full intaglio, being excavated over the en-
tire space within the outlines and to the
depth of from one-eighth to one-fourth of
an inch. The serpents are outlined in deep
unsteady lines, ranging from one-fourth of an
inch to one inch in width, and in parts are
as much as one-half an inch in depth. The
example at the left is rather carefully ex-
ecuted, but the other is very rude. I have
omitted from the drawing a wing-like feature
which forms a partial arch over the larger
serpent. It consists of a broad line of ir-
regular pick-marks which are rather new-
looking and may not have formed a part of
the original design ; aside from this, there
are few indications of the use of hard or
sharp tools, and, although picking or strik-
ing must have been resorted to in excavating
the figures, the lines and surfaces were evi-
dently finished by rubbing. The friable
character of the course soft sandstone makes
excavation by rubbing quite easy, and at the
same time renders it impossible to produce
any considerable degree of polish. The rude
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] A WEST VIRGINIA ROCK-SHKLTER. 221
rounded stones obtained from the floor deposits of the shelter were
undoubtedly employed in this work. The largest of these resemble
ordinary hammer stones in size and shape. In several cases they
have small pits in the sides, making it possible to grasp them firmly
for striking. They were made from material indigenous to the lo-
cality — di rather soft coarse sandstone, like that of the stratum form-
ing the shelter. The salient edges are rounded by use.
The red color used upon the large face and in delineating the life
line and heart of the animal figures is a red ochre or hematite, bits
of which, exhibiting the effects of rubbing, were found in the floor
deposits of the recess. The exact manner of its application is not
known — perhaps the mere rubbing was sufficient — but the color is
so fixed that it cannot be removed save by the removal of the rock
surface. There are indications that this color was employed in
many parts of the work, now much changed by the ravages of time.
Excavations and Relics, — ^The mouth of the shelter was partially
closed by a ridge of debris fallen from above. Inside of this the floor
space, some twenty feet long by fourteen deep, was level, save for the
presence of small masses of rock detached from the roof. In order
to disclose the character of the contents of the ridge «f debris, it
was trenched transversely, beginning at the exterior base. The ex-
cavation was also carried across the floor of the shelter. Evidences
of occupation by men and animals were confined exclusively to a
thin surface deposit of dark earth, which contains ashes, bones,
charcoal, and numerous small articles of artificial orgin. The ex-
terior ridge, as well as the substrata of the floor, were composed of
half-disintegrated masses of sandstone that had fallen from above.
The deposits containing artificial relics were in no place over a foot
in depth and varied in thickness, as a result of the pneven surface
upon which they were laid down. I expected to find near the center
of the recess evidence of a fire-place, and a bed of ashes was found
to the right of the middle point, under the apex of the roof. This
bed of wood ashes, quite pure and but slightly compacted, rested
upon the undisturbed rock floor and was from two to three feet in
horizontal extent and in the central part about six inches deep. A
row of flat stones had been laid along the lower side of the fire-place.
The deposit of dark soil covered the ashes to the depth of a few
inches. Scattered sparingly through the ashes and more plentifully
through the surrounding earth were bits of bone, flint, and earth-
enware, with arrow-points, hammer or rubbing stones, and unio
Digitized by VjOOQIC
222 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOIX)GIST. [Vol. III.
shells. There was no well-defined stratification and no indica-
tions whatever of separate periods of occupation.
Pottery, — ^That the shelter was not a place of general or frequent
resort or one at all employed for domestic purpose is sufficiently at-
tested by the scarcity of remains of culinary articles. The earthen-
ware recovered consists of about a dozen small fragments of
pottery, found for the most part near the surface. The largest piece,
obtained at a depth of six inches, is two inches in length and one.
half an inch thick. The other fragments are not so thick, and do
not average three-fourths of an inch in length. The material is
clay, with a large percentage of tempering ingredients. A few pieces,
including the large specimen mentioned above, are tempered with
sand and bits of broken rock and break with an extremely jagged
fracture ; the others contain an excessive quantity of pulverized shell.
The vessels represented, probably three or four in number, have ap-
parently been rude, wide-mouthed pots. The surfaces are uneven
and the exterior is finished in most cases with textile imprints, such
as result from striking the soft clay with cord-coyered paddles. This
ware corresponds closely with the rude forms of aboriginal work
found both east and west of the Appalachian highland.
Arrow Points^ etc, — A few arrow-points of flint and quartz, and of
usual shapes, were found distributed throughout the floor deposits.
A number of small flakes of flint and bits of rock brought in by the
occupants were noticed.
Red Hem^itite Paint Stones, — Taken in connection with the oc-
currence of red pigment in the wall sculptures, the finding of
;iumerous small bits of red chalk or hematite are interesting. Some
of the pieces, none of which are over an inch in greatest dimension,
show artificially polished surfaces, the result, no doubt, of use in
coloring the pictures.
Hammer and Rubbing Stones, — In looking for traces of the tools
with which the engravings were made, nothing was found save the
rude fragments of partially rounded, and in some cases pitted, sand-
stone previously mentioned. They occurred throughout the arti-
ficial deposits of the cave. Owing to the loosely compacted texture
of the walls of the recess, these tools were probably fairly well fitted
for the work of reducing the broader surfaces of the designs. In
incising the narrower lines and indentations sharper and harder
implements must have been employed.
Bone and Shell. — Scattered throughout the soil and* ashes were
numerous small fragments of the bones of birds and small quadru-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] A WB8T VIRGINIA ROCK-SHELTER. 223
peds. One piece showed evidence of artificial modification ; this
was a spatula-like bit of rib, from one-half to three-fourths of an
inch in width and some four inches long, which had been smoothed
on the concave side and sharpened at the edges. Valves of unio
shells were found in considerable numbers. They are apparently of
the species found in the neighboring streams.
Tribes Concerned. — The distinctive characteristics of the picto-
graphic work left by our historic tribes are not sufficiently well
known to be of use in this case in identifying the people concerned
in the execution of these figures, but numerous analogies with
Algonkian work are apparent. That the work is comparatively recent
is evident from its fresh appearance, the condition and contents
of the shelter floor, and the correspondence of the art relics with
those of well-known historic peoples.
Conclusion. — Inquiry into the origin and purpose of these sculptures
may be made. The first thought of the inquirer naturally is, that
here is a primitive record that may possibly be read. This view is
supported by the fact that a large body of similar work found
throughout the country is intended to record statements or ideas.
In this case, however, I incline to the view that there is nothing
recorded to be read, that the figures were intended for no practical
purpose, but owe their existence to the demands of superstition. It is
reasonable to suppose that inscriptions designed to be read would
be so placed as to meet the eye of others than those who made them.
These works are hidden in a mountain cave, and even now, when
the forest is cleared away and the surrounding slopes are under
cultivation, this secluded recess is invisible from almost every side..
The spot was evidently the resort of a chosen few. Such sequestered
art has and always had a mystic office, and is ordinarily the work
of the god-consulting anchorite or priest who hides away from the
world to pray, to consult oracles, and to acquire prophetic powers.
I infer that we have here, realized to the eye by sculpture and paint-
ing, the gods of the hunter priesthood, that the humble rock-shelter
is an incipient pantheon of which the sculpture-enriched temples of
Greece are the perfected type and the monotheistic cathedrals of
to-day the most highly developed representatives.
Although many of our aboriginal races are known to have devoted
much time and care to the delineation of personal and clan totems,
it seems to me that no other than the deep and lasting motives cqu-
nected directly with religion would be equal to the production of
such elaborate and otherwise useless works.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
224 THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Recent Work in the Quarry Workshops of the District
OF Columbia. — Excavation on the site of the stone implement work-
shops on Piny Branch was resumed as soon as the weather per-
mitted this spring. Up to date five new trenches have been opened
acrosss, or partly across, the old quarries in the plateau face. No
new varieties of implements or worked stones have been found, but
much has been learned in regard to the character and extent of the
ancient quarrying, and additional light has been thrown upon the
processes of manufacture.
One quarry face, encountered in the first trench dug, was ten feet
in height, and when deserted by the ancient workmen must have
presented a vertical or overhanging face at least twenty feet high.
In many places there are evidences of undermining, and the fact
is developed that the operations of the ancient miners were rendered
comparatively easy by their method of procedure. With ordinary
stakes of wood burned to a blunt point it was not difficult to remove
the disintegrated gneiss upon which the compact bowlder bed
rested, and then it was a comparatively easy matter to loosen and
knock down the bowlders. The stone implements were not shaped
in the pits. The bowlders were tested for texture and homogeneity
by knocking of a flake or two, and if the result was satisfactory they
were thrown to the surface to be roughed out and trimmed upon
convenient spots around the margins of the pits or on level areas
about the edge of the promontory.
The magnitude of the work is truly marvelous and exceeds the
estimates made last fall.
Little evidence of a definite nature bearing upon the question of
age has been secured. A hundred or a thousand years may have
passed since the discontinuance of work upon this site. The ancient
pits, dug in compaiatively loose material, may have filled up in a
few years, but no one can say that ages have not been consumed in
reducing the art-bearing gravels of the slopes to their present con-
dition. As previously shown, these gravels tell no story of time;
they have been deposited uniformly throughout a period extending
back from the present to a remote but undefined past. River
gravels representing progressive erosion are not found in the
Potomac valley, and as a consequence questions of age must be
settled elsewhere. In the Delaware valley all the necessary ele-
ments of a time record exist, and there the record has been at least
partly read. Rudely shaped tools have been found in gravels
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] QUARRY WORKSHOPS. 225
dating back to, or nearly to, the glacial epoch. If these objects were
buried in the gravels is the latter were laid down and are not upon
the sites of more recent quarrying in these gravels, their great an-
tiquity is clearly proved. It remains now to develop this point in
the fullest manner, and then, if the interpretations of Doctor Abbott
are shown to be correct, it will be necessary to seek the quarries and
workshops that must exist somewhere in the valley above Trenton.
If these are found and exhibit phenomena corresponding closely
with those observed in the valley of the Potomac, a strong presump-
tion will be created that the conditions are uniform in the two val-
leys, that the gravels presumed to exist here beneath tide-water
contain the relics of prehistoric stone art, as surmised by Professor
McGee, and that the work is very ancient.
No matter, however, how strong such a presumption may be, it
cannot without additional verification amount to a demonstration.
Similar work may have been done by different peoples and in widely
separated periods of time. We know that there were populous fishing
communities in the valley of the Potomac not 300 years ago, and
that fishing was carried on by means of spears. The probabilities
are that stone points were used for these spears. The general
use of such points implies extensive manufacture and extensive
quarrying of the material employed, and the existence of the great
quarry-shop sites recently examined may thus be sufficiently ex-
plained without resort to the theory of a paleolithic man.
Operations on the Piny Branch site are nearly concluded, and
another site on the west side of Rock creek near the new Observa-
tory will next receive attention.
W. H. Holmes.
Ethnology of West Africa. — Captain L.-G. Dinger's com-
munication entitled " Du Niger au Golfe de Guin^e par Kong" to
the Soci^t^ de Geographic, of Paris, published in its Bulletin for
the third trimestre, 1889, gives a list of the tribes and linguistic
families found by him in that heretofore unexplored region. His
primary division is into seven ethnic families. Their names and
those of their subdivisions are as follows, the French literation
being retained :
ist. The Mand6 family (Mandingue, Bambara-Malink6, etc.),
which stocks with inhabitants the states of Samory, of Kong, parts
29 •
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226 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
of Ouorodougou, of Kouroudougou, of Diammara, of Goudjd, and
which has its colonies nearly all over the district. This is eminently
the encroaching race.
2d. The Siene-r6 or Si6nou-fo group, which constitutes the popu-
lation of the states of Ti6ba, Pegu6, Follona, Djimini, and a part
of Ouorodougou.
3d. The Gouroun-ga group, which inhabits Gourounsi and a part
of Boussang-si.
4th. The Mo group, which inhabits Mossi and which seems to
have relationship with the Bimba (gourma) group. «
Sth. The Haoussa-dogomba-mampourga group.
6th. The Peul family, which is situated north of the regions which
Captain Binger visited, towards Djenn^ and Macina. Only a few
colonies from there have succeeded in establishing themselves in the
zone visited, and have not descended south of the eleventh degree
of latitude.
Besides these seven great families, other peoples were met and
less completely studied, which will be treated of more at length in
a future work. Their names are as follows :
Tagoua, Samokho, Tourouga, Tousia, Mboin Ker^boro, Pallaga,
Tago-Komono-Dokhosi6, Ti^fo, Bobofing, Bobo-Oul6, Bobo-Dioula,
L^na, Dafina, M6n6gu6, Sommo, Kipirsi, Nonouma, Oul6, Dagari,
Dagabakha, Bougouri, Lobi, Gine, Diane, Lakhama, Lima, Youlsi,
Tiensi, Nokhoriss6, Tiansi, Mampourga, Dagomba, Goudja, Achanti,
Ligouy-Diammoura, Ton, Pakhalla, Agni, Fallafalla, Kippirri,
Kourou, etc., etc.
To this list the people of the lagune of Grand-Bassam must be
added. An ethnographic map is furnished with the communication.
There are altogether more than sixty peoples among whom ties of
relationship are apparent, but who speak a number of different lan-
guages and dialects. Fortunately the Mand6 and the Haoussa are
eminently commercial and are to be found throughout the dis-
trict, so that with some knowledge of their languages and of Arabic
travelling is possible.
Garrick Mallery.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890] A ZUSi FOOT-RACB. 227
A ZUNI FOOT-RACE.
^ BY F. WEBB HODGE.
When the Sun Priest announces the arrival of planting time* and
the herald proclaims from the house-tops that the gjanting has been
done, the seasons for foot-racing in Zufii are at hand.
The first races of the year, while interesting ceremonially, are by
no means so exciting as those which follow later in the season when
the planting is finished. These preliminary races are over a short
course and are participated in by a representative of each of the
six estufas. Six prayer-plumes and an equal number of race-sticks
are made by the Priests of the Bow, the latter of which are placed
in the trail about two miles from the starting point. When the time
for the race has been decided upon, which may not be until three
or four days after the race-sticks have been deposited by the
priests, the six representatives of the estufas run to the point where
they are, and each man finds and kicks one of the sticks in a small
circle homeward. This race is a contest between the six individuak
comprising the racing party, and no betting is engaged in.
The great races of Zufii, and those in which the chief interest is
centered, occur after the planting — the time when nearly all the
men are at leisure. In selecting the participants in these races, the
swiftest-footed of the young men of the northern half of the pueblo
are matched against those of the southern, or of the western half
against the eastern. The number of racers on a side varies from
three to six, and the degree of interest taken in the contest depends
upon the reputation of those engaged in it, and particularly upon
the extent to which betting has been indulged in.
As soon as the choice of sides has been made, the wagering begins,
and increases with good-natured earnestness until the time for the
foot-race arrives. Every available hide and pelt is brought to light
from beneath the piles of stores secreted in the back rooms and cel-
lars, to be converted into cash or gorgeously colored calico, and the
demand upon the trader for goods is unequaled except when a great
dance is approaching. Money, silver belts, bracelets and rings,
shell necklaces, turquoises, horses, sheep, blankets, in fact anything
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228 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
and everything of value to the Indian, are offered by a resident of one
side of the pueblo in support of his favorites against something of
equal value held by a champion of the opposing side.
On the evening of the day before a long race takes place, the
participants repair to a secluded spot in one of the mesas some
miles from the village, where a hole a foot or two in depth is exca-
vated, in which is deposited, with due ceremony, a quantity of sacred
meal and two cigarettes made of native tobacco (ah-na-tS) rolled
in the husk of corn. When this portion of the ceremony has been
concluded and the hole filled, the Indians move away for a short
distance and sit for a while without speaking above a whisper, when
they start for the pueblo. On their way should a roosting bird be-
come frightened and take flight, or the hoot of an owl be heard,
the sign is a warning to defer the race. But if lightning be seen
or a shooting-star observed, the omen is considered a favorable one
and the race takes place on the day following.
The racers are greeted on their return by a priest who offers a
blessing. A single cigarette is made and passed around among the
number, after which one of them recites a prayer. The preparatory
ceremonies being now completed, the racers retire into the house of
the priest, who extends his hospitality until after the event.
The following morning, the day of the race, the runners arise
even earlier than usual, take a short run, and return to await the
time appointed to start. In the meanwhile they make bets with one
another or with any one who may happen in. About an hour before
starting they partake sparingly of paper-bread (jU-we) soaked in
water, after which they doff their every -day apparel and substitute
breech-cloths, the color of which is either entirely white or red,
dependent upon the side to which the wearer belongs. To prevent
the hair being an impediment to progress, it is carefully and com-
pactly arranged above the forehead in a knot by one of the Priests
of the Bow. To this knot or coil an arrow-point is invariably
attached as a symbol of flight, or perhaps as a charm to insure to
the runner the swiftness of the arrow. The arrow-points having
been thus placed, the same priest, holding in each hand a turkey-
quill, pronounces a blessing and leads his charges to the starting
point.
Without, the excitement is intense. The women discuss with
one another the probable outcome, and engage in betting as
spiritedly as the men. Here may be seen a fellow who has wagered
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] A ZuSi FOOT-RACE. 229
all he possesses — if he wins, so much the better, and if all is lost he
takes the consequences philosophically and trusts success will visit
him next time. Another may be seen who has ventured all his own
property as well as that of his wife, and if he faik to win a divorce
is imminent. The small boys also are jubilant. When the race was
first proposed they sought their companions, selected sides, and
staked their small possessions on the results of their own races with
a zeal that would have become their fathers.
The articles that are to change hands at the close of the race are
placed in a heap in the center of the large dance-court near the old
Spanish church. Around this pile of valuables a crowd gathers, on
horse-back or afoot, to take advantage of the few moments that re-
main in which to make their final wagers. As the runners emerge
from the house under the leadership of the priest, they are followed
by the excited crowd to the smooth ground on the opposite side of
the river, from whence they usually start.
A Zufii foot-race is not entirely a contest of swift-footedness, al-
though much, of course, depends upon that accomplishment. In
preparing for the start the members of one side arrange themselves
several paces apart in an irregular line in the course to be pursued
in such a manner that the movements of their leader at the point of
starting can be readily seen, those of the contesting party posting
themselves in a similar line a few feet away. The leader of each
side places across his foot at the base of the toes a rounded stick
measured by the size of the middle finger. Just before the signal is
given to proceed a mounted priest goes ahead sprinkling the trail
with sacred meal.
At the signal each of the two leaders kicks his stick as far in ad-
vance as possible, when the racer of his side who happens to be
nearest its place of falling immediately rushes for and again kicks
it, his companions running ahead in order to be in readiness to send
the stick on its further flight. This operation is continued through-
out the entire course, the racers in the rear each time running in
advance as rapidly as possible that they may kick the stick as often
as their companions.
Not infrequently the first kicking of the sticks sends them
flying over the heads of the second and even the third racers
in advance, and they fall near each other. The excitement at this
occurrence is very great, for none of the dozen young men spare
themselves in scrambling over and pushing one another in order to
secure the stick and send it on its course. No difficulty is experi-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
230 ' THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
enced by a racer in recognizing the stick of his party, that belong-
ing to one side having a band of red paint around the center, the
other an additional though narrower stripe around both ends.
Considering the extreme lightness of the race-stick, the distance
which it is sent by a single kick, or rather toss, with the toes is
remarkable. Very often a stick is raised aloft in this manner about
thirty feet and falls at least a hundred feet from the point at which
it was lifted. Nor is the distance which the stick is sent the only
requisite of success. Sometimes a narrow, sandy trail bordered
by weeds is to be traversed, and a careless kick will probably send
the stick into the brush or into an arroya, where great difficulty
may be experienced in regaining it, since a racer is never allowed
to touch a stick with his hands until he reaches the goal. Again,
throughout the rough race-trail the character of the land surface
varies greatly, and long stretches of deep sand alternate with rocky
passes, arroyas, and hills clothed with scrub timber or sage-brush.
Indeed, smooth grouild is seldom met with over the entire course of
twenty-five miles.
Accompanying the participants may always be seen two or
three hundred equestrians — those who, more than any others,
are interested in the outcome of the race by reason of the extent
of their prospective gains or losses. When one side follows
closely in the track of its opponent the horsemen all ride to-
gether, but when, by reason of accident or inferiority in speed, a
party falls considerably in the rear, the horsemen separate to accom-
pany their respective favorites. If the season is dry the dust made
by the loping horses is blinding, but the racers continue apparently
as unmindful of the mud-coating that accumulates on their almost
nude, perspiring bodies as if they were within but a few steps of
victory.
On they go from the point' of starting over the southern hills,
thence eastward to Thunder Mountain, along the western base of
which they proceed to the basaltic rocks through which the Zufti
river runs. Keeping close to the mesas that form the northern
boundary of the valley, the racers cross the river on their return at
a point about two miles west of the pueblo, whence they con-
tinue to the western end of the southern hills first crossed. These
having been skirted, they pass over the low, sandy corn-fields to the
goal, followed by the yelling horsemen, who wave yards of brilliant
calico as they dash forward with the final spurt of the racers. When
the goal is reached the first racer of the winning sidd takes the stick
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] A ZUffi FOOT-RACE. 231
into his hands for the first time since starting. With renewed
energy the individual members of the successful party put forth every
remaining effort to be the first to arrive at the central plaza of the
pueblo. He who gains it first is considered the superior racer of
all, and his honor is indeed well earned. Running as rapidly as
possible once around the heap of stores, at the same time breathing
from his hand the ** breath of life," the victor, stick in hand, con-
tinues at a running pace to his home.
Curiosity prompted me to note the time occupied in performing
this feat, which was found to be exactly two hours.
Like almost every undertaking of the Zufii, the foot-race has more
or less of a religious significance, as will be seen from the initiatory
ceremonies. The opposing racers who await the signal to give the
stick its first toss place turquoises or shell beads beneath the stick
that they may be sacrificed at the first lifting of the foot. In the
belief of the Zufti the stick has a tendency to draw the racers on,
and as long as it can be kept in advance their success is, of course,
assured. The cause thus follows the effect in the same manner as it
does when in Zufliland the summer comes because the butterflies
appear, and it departs because the birds take their flight.
Training for a Zufti foot-race begins at childhood. At almost
any time a naked youngster of four or five years may be seen play-
ing at kicking- the-stick outside the door of his home, or, if a year
or two older, coming from the corn-field — where he has been duti-
fully engaged in frightening off the crows — tossing the stick as far
as his little feet will allow him.
L'Anthropologie. — With the November number the Revised
Anthropologie, founded in 1872 by Paul Broca, ceased to exist as
a separate journal. In January of the present year the three great
journals, Mat^riaux pour THistoire de THomme, the Revue d*An-
thropologie, and the Revue d'Ethnographie, were united, and the
new journal has appeared with the title L' Anthropologie, a bi-
monthly journal under the editorship of MM. femile Cartailhac, E.
T. Hamy, and Paul Topinard.
By this concentration of their efforts these three gentlemen will
doubtless make the new journal as efficient as the old ones combined.
It will be a difficult task, however, as all know who have read care-
fully the journals founded by Mortillet, Broca, and Hamy.
. r=0^:r. Mason.
\ n IT I ^ ^ - * 'digitized by Google
232 THE AMERICAN ANTHEOPOLOQIST. [Vol. III.
Death of Hans Hendrik. — A late number of the Geografisk
Tidskrift reports the death of this famous Eskimo, who was proba-
bly better known to the civilized world than any other of his race,
with the possible exception of Capt. Hall's companion ** Eskimo
Joe," for he rendered excellent service in four polar expeditions.
The last ship which came from Greenland in 1889 reports his death
at Godhavn on August 11, 1889. A brief account of his life is
given by Lieut. C. Ryder of the Danish navy {^Geografisk Tid-
skrift, V. 10, 1890, pt. 5-6, pp- 140-143).
He was bom at the Moravian station of Lichtenfels, in South
Greenland, in 1834, and was educated by the missionaries, joining
Dr. Kane's second expedition in the brig ** Advance," in 1853.
When that ill-fated vessel was abandoned, in 1855, Hans chose to
remain behind with the Eskimos of Cape York, where he lived for
.five years, marrying an Eskimo girl, who afterwards came back with
him to Danish Greenland, where she was baptized.
He joined the expedition of Dr. Hayes, in i860, at Cape York,
and returned with it to Upernivik, in Greenland. Here and at
Proven he remained for several years in the employ of the Danish
traders.
Accompanying Capt. Hall in the "Polaris" expedition of
i87i-'73, he was one of the unfortunate party who became sepa-
rated from the vessel on an ice floe, and drifted from 77*^ 30' north
latitude to 53® 30' off the coast of Labrador, where they were finally
picked up by the ** Tigress," a steam-sealer. It was to the efforts
of Hans and his comrade, '* Eskimo Joe," that the party of nine-
teen owed their lives during their drift of over six months.
After passing the winter of 1873-4 in America he returned to
Upernivik, and in 1875 joii^ed the English discovery-ship "Alert,"
sharing in the exploration of Lady Franklin Bay and many other
sled expeditions. After his return, in 1876, he was employed by
the traders, chiefly at Upernavik, Egedesminde, and Godhavn, at
which last place he spent the last years of his life. His last journey
was in 1883, when he went as pilot and interpreter on board the
Swedish steamer "Sophie," which visited Cape York, under com-
mand of Dr. Nathorst, while Nordenskiold was making his journey
into the interior of Greenland,
" With his virtues and his faults," says Lieut. Ryder, " he was a
good type of the Greenlander, and he was one of the many among
this race who have saved white men from dying a miserable death
among the icy wastes of the polar regions." John Murdoch.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] HISTORY OP THE " THROWING-STICK." 233
THE HISTORT OF THB '^ THROWINQ-STICK " WHICH
DRIFTED FROM ALASKA TO GREENLAND.
BY JOHN MURDOCH.
One of the strongest arguments advanced by Dr. Frith iof Nansen,
whose successful expedition across Greenland has won him so much
honor, in favor of his plan for reaching the North Pole by drifting
with the ice north and west from Bering Strait is the fact that an
Eskimo "throwing-stick'* or handle for casting darts has un-
doubtedly made this very drift.
Reviewing the evidence in the March number of Naturen, he
shows conclusively that this little piece of wood, fortunately of such
characteristic shape that its history is unmistakable, has floated from
Bering Strait to the west coast of Greenland, undoubtedly passing
over or close to the North Pole.
As this remarkable case has attracted little or no attention out-
side of the Danish and Norwegian journals, I propose here to re-
view in detail the history of the specimen. Some time ago the
Norwegian Magazine Naturen published a notice of the meeting
of the ** Videnskabsselskab ** at Christiania on June 11, 1886.*
In this notice it was stated that ** Y. Nielsen (the curator of the
University Museum) exhibited a throwingstick for a harpoon,
found among driftwood at Godthaab ; it is of a form unknown in
Greenland, but agrees completely with the thro wing-stick used in
Alaska. It has therefore probably made the same journey as the
relics of the Jeannette expedition found at Julianehaab.'*
It immediately occurred to me that with the extensive collections
at our disposal in the National Museum, in connection with the
observations published by Professor Mason, f it would be easy to
arrive at an almost certain conclusion about the specimen in
question. I therefore wrote at once to Dr. Rink, in Christiania,
who I know would be interested in any matter concerning the
Eskimos, and who was probably present at the meeting of June 11,
* Naturen, vol. 10, No. 11, p. 176.
t Throwing-sticks in the National Museum. By Otis T. Mason. (Smithso-
nian Report, 1884, pt. II, pp. 279-289.)
30
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234 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [VoL III.
making further inquiries about the specimen, asking especially for
a figure of the throwing-stick if one could be procured.
With his usual promptness and courtesy, Dr. Rink at once re-
sponded by sending me a carefully made outline sketch of the speci-
men drawn by himself.
I had not the slightest difficulty in identifying this with one of
Mason's types, namely, that used in the Kaviak peninsula, Norton
Sound, and the Yukon Delta. It most closely resembles a specimen
from the Kaviak Peninsula now in the National Museum. It was
seen at once that the resemblance between these two objects was
altogether too striking to be the result of accident. I then wrote to
Dr. Rink, stating that in my opinion the '* throwing-stick*' was
undoubtedly Alaskan and probably from the Kaviak Peninsula.
On receiving this confirmation of his previous views in regard to
the origin of the specimen. Dr. Rink published a paper in the
"Geografisk Tidskrift,"* in which he gives the history of the speci-
men in detail. This account adds considerably to the authenticity
of the '*find."
It appears that Dr. Rink himself found the throwing-stick, which
the Greenlanders at once recognized as different from any they had
ever before seen, among the driftwood collected a,t Godthaab some
years ago. This driftwood, as is well-known, is brought round Cape
Farewell from the east and carried up the west coast of Greenland.
Quite by accident, as he says, Dr. Rink preserved the specimen until
1886, when the university at Christiania received a valuable selection
of ethnographical specimens from the Danish East Greenland expe-
dition under Holm and Garde. He then presented the specimen to
the university, apparently supposing that it came from the same
region. On examination, however, it proved that it was different
from the East Greenland th rowing-sticks, as well as from those from
the west. The well-known Norwegian traveler, Jakobsen, who has
collected in Alaska, as well as in Greenland and Labrador, was
struck, on examining the collection, with the resemblance of this
specimen of unknown origin to those he had seen in Alaska. This
gave rise to Nielsen's communication to the " Videnskabsselskab,"
in which he compared the probable drift of this object to that of
the Jeannette relics, in confirmation of Professor Mohn's theory of
a current running across close to the North Pole.
*Formodet Drift of ct Fangeredskab fra Alaska til Greenland. ((Jeografisk
Tidskrift, vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 75-76. Copenhagen, 1887.)
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] HISTORY OF THE "THROWING-STICK." 235
The points specially mentioned by Dr. Rink as those in which
this specimen differs from those used in Greenland, namely, the
** pocket '' for the forefinger and the peg for one of the other fingers,
are precisely those which indicate its Alaskan origin. The fact that
it is inlaid with beads, though Dr. Rink lays considerable stress on
this, is probably a mere accident and of no value in classification,
though it appears to be true that this style of ornamentation is far
more common in Alaska than in the east. Of more importance is
the shallow groove along the back of the implement, appearing on
both specimens compared. The general resemblance in shape be-
tween the two is especially striking.
It seems to me unreasonable to doubt that the implement in ques-
tion was actually made in Alaska, not far from Bering Strait, and
there seems to be no way of accounting for its presence at Godthaab,
unless it really drifted all the way from Bering Strait to the coast of
Greenland. What we actually know of the currents in the Arctic
Ocean indicates the possibility of such a drift. There appears to
be more or less of a northerly current north of Bering Strait, and
the drift of the Jeannette itself indicates a constant westerly move-
ment in high northern latitudes.
Dr. Rink's suggestion that we know nothing of the people who
undoubtedly inhabit the east coast of Greenland north of latitude
6S, and that this implement may have been made by them, appears
to me to carry less weight than he supposes. Mason has shown in
the paper mentioned above that this implement has developed in
certain distinct lines, which have a definite geographical distribu-
tion. The specimen in question belongs to a highly specialized
type, widely different from the equally specialized type found in
Greenland. If in any part of East Greenland a throwing-stick was
found resembling that used in the Mackenzie River district, there
would be nothing surprising in it, for this implement is of an ex-
ceedingly simple and generalized pattern, but it is in the highest
degree improbable that specialization should result in two forms
identically the same in regions so far apart.
In the preceding remarks I have followed the nomenclature of
Professor Mason and most other American and English writers in
calling these implements *' throwing-sticks.*' They are also called
" thro wing-boards," ** hand-boards," or "darting-boards." The
objection has been raised to these names that ** throwing-stick"
should mean a stick to be thrown, like those used by many savages,
Digitized by VjOOQIC
236 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
while '* hand-board " is too indefinite, giving no indication of the
use of the implement.
On the drawing furnished me by Dr. Rink he has written the
name " harpoon thrower.*' This seems to me an entirely unob-
jectionable and very expressive name, and I think its use in ethno-
graphic work is much to be con^mended.
[The above point with reference to the ineligibility of the name
" throwing-sticks" for these implements seems well taken. Dr.
Rink's term "harpoon thrower" while perfectly applicable to the
implement used by the Eskimo is quite out of place elSewhere, as
in Australia, where the implement in question has a wide distribu-
tion. It is suggested that the term spear thrower is preferable since
it covers the functions of the implement fully, and sufficiently dis-
tinguishes it from the throwing club or stick, also of wide distribu-
tion, which is a missile. — Editor.]
The Andamans and Andamanese. — In an article entitled "The
Andamansand Andamanese'* {Scottish Geographical Magazine jYoL
5, No. 2, Feb., 1889, pp. 57-73) Col. T. Cadell, Chief Commis-
sioner of the Andaman Islands, gives an interesting general account
of these very primitive savages. Perhaps the most striking thii^g
in the article is the favorable account he gives of the appearance
and disposition of these people, who have generally been presented
to the world in a very unfavorable light. He scouts the idea of
their ever having been cannibals, and goes on to describe them
as "well-made, dapper little fellows,*' with "smiling, innocent
fac^s," and "pleasant to look upon" — "such jolly, merry little
people. * * * You cannot imagine how taking they are. Every
one who has to do with them falls m love with them." By kind-
ness and liberality the English have succeeded in gaining the affec-
tions of all the inhabitants of Great Andaman except the Jarawas,
who speak a " totally different language" and differ in their customs
and weapons, and friendly relations are gradually being established
with the people of Little Andaman,
John Murdoch.
)igitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] NOTES ON INDIAN CHILD-LANGUAGE. 237
NOTES ON INDIAN CHILD-LANQUAaE.
BY A. F. CHAMBERLAIN.
To the language of the Indian child but little attention appears
to have been given. Its importance for comparison with the speech
of children in other parts of the globe is very great, and its investi-
gation may shed some light upon theories of the origin and develop-
ment of language such as the one set forth by Mr. Horatio Hale. In
the last few years there have appeared several valuable works relat-
ing to the general subject of child-language, its phonology and vo-
cabulary. Besides the studies of Schultze\ vOn der Gabelentz*, and
Taine*, we find in "Titin: A Study of Child-Language," by Seftor
D. A. Machado y Alvarez, of Seville*, a most interesting investiga-
tion of the language-development of the Spfior's two children, both
as regards sound and signification. Only last year Prof. A. H.
Sayce* published a list of curious words belonging to the " Chil-
dren's Language in the Omani Dia^lect of Arabia," and Mr. Hale',
in his elaborate essay on the "Development of Language," has
dwelt upon many of the peculiarities of infantile speech, as also has
Prof. Joseph Mikch^ in his interesting essay "L'ld^ et la Racine."
The articles of Sefior Machado and Professor Sayce will be of consid-
erable value for comparison with the Indian data given in this paper.
Canon Farrar*, discussing the question whether children if left to
themselves would evolve the rudiments of a language, makes this state-
ment:
**Itis a well-known fact that the neglected children in some
Canadian and Indian villages, who are often left alone for days, can
and do invent for themselves a sort of lingua franca, partially or
wholly unintelligible to all except themselves."
> Die Sprache des Kindes, 1880.
*Sce Hale, Op. cit., p. 113.
» In Revue Philosophique, 1876, pp. i et seq,
♦Trans, of Philol. Soc. (Lond.), i885-*7, pp. 68-74.
•"Academy" (London), No. 915, November 16, 1889, pp. 324-'5.
• Proceedings of Canadian Institute, 3rd series, Vol. VI, 1887-8, pp. 93-134.
Espcc. pp. 96, 97, 113, 132.
^ Revue de Lin^^uistique et de Philologie compar^e. Tome XIX, 1886, pp.
189-206, 213-231. Espec. pp. 195-197-
' Chapters on Language. New Edition, London, 1873, P* I4*
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238 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The writer has not as yet been able to discover by what authority
this assertion is made, but, having had his attention drawn to the
subject, has gathered together some information which may prove
of interest and value.
A search through a dictionary for " child-words '* is but too often
labor lost or nearly so. For example, the **Arawak-deutsches Wor-
terbuch" contained in the Biblioth^ue Linguistique Am^ricaine*
yielded only the following :
Awdwa (Vaterchen, Papa). — Papa. The ordinary Arawak word is
iti (Vater, Vaterbruder, Mutterbruder).
fdja (Hangematte). — Hammock. The usual Arawak word is uk-
kura {ukkurahu) or hamaka.
Seessuban (sich setzen, sitzen). — To seat one's self, to sit down.
The usual Arawak word is abaltin or aballatin.
While among the Mississaguas of Scugog, Ontario, in the summer
of 1888, the writer was able to discover only two words used spe-
cially by children : fete (=■ father, papa) and dddd (= mother, mama).
These words (sometimes with interchanged significations) occur
very frequently, with more or less modified vocalism, as the names
for "father" and "mother" among primitive peoples,* and may
not ineptly be compared with our own English dada^ etc. From
the Rev. Allen Salt (a Mississagua) two other words were obtained :
Tup'pe'-ta, — G reasy . The ord i nary word is pemeddweze (i t is greasy).
Num-na, — Sweet. The ordinary word is wteshkoobun (it is sweet).
A careful examination of the Algonkin Dictionary of the Abb6
Cuoq* has yielded the following "child-words," which the writer
has extracted and arranged alphabetically :
Bobo, — Hurt. Used by parent to child. Andi bobo f Where are
you hurt ? The word is borrowed from French bobo,
Djodjo, — Used: i) by child wishing to be suckled, 2)== mama,
mother. In the latter sense it is used not merely by children
but also by grown-up persons, who often say ni djodjo (my
mother), ki djodjo (thy mother), etc., instead of the usual
nin gaj ki ga, etc. Cuoq considers djodjo to be a child-
word for toioc (Jotosh, teat, breast).
'Tome VIII, Paris, 1882. See pp. 104, 120, 153.
* See the list given by Buschmann in Verh. der Berl. Acad, des Wiss. a. d.
Jahre, 1852, Berlin, 1853; also Um^ry in Revue Orientale et Amiricaine, VIII
(1863), 335-338, and Wedgwood, Diet of Engl. Etymol., 3d ed., 1878, li-lii.
' Lexique de la langue algonquine. Montreal, 1886.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] NOTES ON INDIAN CHILD-LANGUAGE. 239
E, S, i I — ^Yes. The affirmative particle used by children consists
of t repeated several times.
'Enh, — No. Used by very young children. Cuoq remarks the
curious fact that with adults, eh I or enh I signifies ** yes,"
and states that its pronunciation ** varies according to the
age, sex, condition, and sentiments of the speaker.*'
loio, — Hurt (same as bobd). From it are formed ; ioioc (bad hurt),
toiociWy i (to have a bad hurt).
Kaka, — I ) game, z) tender part of flesh. Cuoq says that little chil-
dren denote by this word all sorts of game (bear, beaver, deer,
partridge, etc.), and also, in particular, the tender part of
the flesh of birds, amphibious animals, fish, etc. A deriva-
tive from this word in use in the language is kakawandjigan,
cartilage, marrow, soft part of animals, fish, etc.
Kakac {kakasK), — i) = Pipi and caca (French), 2) dirt, filth, un-
cleanliness. A mother will say to her child ki kakaciki (tu
fais caca, tu fais pifi)^ ki kakaciw (thou art dirty).
Koko, — Name given by little children to any terrible being. This
is probably the Gaugou, that monster of the Indian imagina-
tion of which we read in Champlain and Lescarbot, and
which was supposed to live on an island in the Baie des
Chaleurs. Indeed, Lescarbot' speaks of **la plaisante his-
toire du Gougau (\\\\ fait peur aux petits enfansy A mother
says to her child koko ki gat aiawik (beware of the koko).
Labala, — An individual of the white race.
Lolo, — Used by little children when asking to be put back into the
cradle. Cuoq compares the French dodo.
Mamon, — Used by mothers to little children to induce them to go
to sleep.
Nana. — Everything that is eaten without the aid of a spoon.
iVi7«^«.— Candy, sweetmeats, bon-bons. Cuoq considers that this
word is probably of French origin.
Paboc {pabosh). — Everything that is eaten with a spoon.
Fipi. — Used by little children when asking for water.
Sesewan. — This word is used only to little children, to prevent them
taking up or eating something dirty, or some forbidden ob-
ject. The radical Se / means " fie ! *'
Tadjic (Jadjish). — An exclamation of admiration.
7tf/a.— Papa, father.
» Histoire dc la Nouvclle France, 1612. Ed. Tross, pp. 371-395.
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240 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
In conversing with Odjidjat^kha, an educated and intelligent
Mohawk from Brantford, Ontario, I learned that the fact of the ex-
istence of ** child- words '* had come under his notice. He was*
able to remember four only of these :
Gi'ti-ni. — Horse. The ordinary Mohawk word is ga-nuh-sa,
O'dji. — ^An exclamation of fear, fright.
Tata, — Bread. The ordinary word is ga-na-tah-ro,
Wa-wa, — Meat. The ordinary word is O-wa-ra,
He also mentioned the curious fact that there is some difference
between the pronunciation of the men and the women, the former,
for example, saying data and the latter ioda^ the consonants being
vigorously uttered in each case. The first of the ** child-words"
in question, gi-tt-m, was, so Odjidjat^kha informed me, an invention
of his own when a little boy.
Cuoq^ in his Iroquois Dictionary gives some examples of " child-
words '' in that dialect. These I have here arranged alphabetically
for more explicit reference. He calls attention to the existence of
the letters ^, py and m in these words, letters which are entirely
foreign to the language of the adult Iroquois.
Aa, — Used with sense of French caca.
Ah. — Something dirty or bad tasting.
Aia. — Hurt. Same signification as French bobo,
Atsio, — Signifies heal and bums, cold, chilblains, etc. (Le chaud et
les brdlures, le froid et les engelures).
Ba, — Expresses the action of kissing, etc. (baiser, embrasser).
En, — Expresses approval, consent, obedience.
Enh, — Expresses refusal, rejection, repulsion.
Fa, — Expresses a disagreeable odor. *
laiaa, — Used to designate fruit with pips, stones (fruits a pepin).
Kak. — Signifies a bite, cut, etc.
Man, — Used when asking for food, drink, etc.
Mants, — Used when asking to be suckled.
Mionts, — Used to name cats.
Oo, — Used when asking to be put in a vehicle, canoe, etc.
Otsih, — Expresses fear produced by the sight of a human being, an
animal, etc.
Tataa, — Bread, cake.
Taten. — Used when asking to be taken up and carried in the arms
of father or mother.
^ Lexique de la langue iroqaoise. Montreal, 1882, pp. 191-193.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] NOTES ON INDIAN CHILD-LANGUAGE. 241
Ts€ts, — Expresses the idea of goodness, beauty.
Tsiap. — Expresses the idea of a fall into water.
Tsiotsioo, — Used in asking for porridge, broth, and all that is eaten
with a spoon.* "
Ttsitsii. — Used in pointing out a little mollusk, an insect, a reptile,
causing fear.
All these words, Cuoq states, **Are spoken in a peculiar manner,
which no writing can perfectly express.'* The Iroquois and Algonkin
dialects here treated of are those spoken by the Indians belonging to
those stocks at the Lake of the Two Mountains, Province of Quebec.
There appear to be a few resemblances in the Algonkin and Iro-
quois '* child-words" cited above, viz:
Algonkin: E, enh, nana, tata.
Iroquois: En, enh, man, tota.
The writer does not desire at present to discuss the remoter origin
and inter-relation of the '* child-words *' brought together in this
brief essay, but hopes that additions will be made to the data there
given from other sources, and that on some future occasion the sub-
ject may be discussed in its wider aspects.
Publications relating to Paris Exposition. — Two volumes re-
lating to the anthropological collections at the Paris Exposition have
appeared.- ** Catalogue G^n^ral Official. Exposition Retrospective
du Travail et des Sciences Anthropologiques, Section i. Anthropol-
ogie-Ethnographie. Lille : L. Danel, 1889, 250 p., 8vo.; '' and **La
Soci^t^, L'ficole et le Laboratoire d' Anthropologic de Paris a TEx-
position Universelle de 1889. Palais des Arts Lib^raux. Instruc-
tion Publique. Paris: Imprim-R^unies, 1889. 362 p., 8vo.*' The
first named is a part of the official catalogue series, the latter was
issued by the three organizations named in the title.
Following the example of the world's fair in 1867 the great ex-
hibition of 1889 organized, in the building on the Champs de Mars
called Palais des Arts Lib^raux, an *' Exposition retrospective de
rhistoire du travail.'* This served as a vestibule to the great col-
lections illustrating the inventions and arts of our own day. The
material was separated into five classes: ^* Sciences anthopologiques
et ethnographiques ; Arts libiraux ; Arts et metiers ; Moy ens de trans-
port ; Arts miUtaires, This catalogue contains a minute description
of the organization and objects included within the first section,
namely, anthropologie et ethnologic.
31
Digitized by VjOOQIC
242 THK AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The second-named publication is an excellent history of the sci-
entific bodies of Paris and of their work, as well as a catalogue
raisonn^e of the anthropological objects shown by them in the Ex-
position. The participants in this section were the following:
Soci^t6 d'Anthropologie, founded by Broca in 1858.
Laboratoire d'Anthropologie, founded by Broca in 1867.
£cole d'Anthropologie, founded by Broca in 1876.
Mus6e Broca, containing the collections of all the above named
and much besides, founded in 1880.
The first three comprise what is called the Institut d'Anthropol-
ogie.
The publications of the Soci6t6 have been the Bulletins^ Series i,
six volumes (1859-1865); Series ii, twelve volumes (1866-1877);
Series iii, eleven volumes (1877-1888), and the Mimoires, Series i,
three volumes ; Series ii, four volumes.
Three prizes — prix Godard, prix Broca, and prix Bertillon — are
conferred upon the most worthy publications in anthropology in
general, in human biology, and in demography, respectively. Wor-
thy of notice in the same connection was the Reunion Lamarck,
founded by Paul Nicole and under the presidency of G. de Mortillet.
The object of this organization was to bring together the evidences
of the great obligation due to their master for the progress of trans-
formism as a doctrine of creation.
Further publications by members of the Institut d' Anthropologic
are Biblioth^ue des Sciences Contemporaine, 16 volumes; Biblio-
th^ue Anthropologique, 10 volumes, and Dictionnaire des Sciences
An thropologiques.
The committee of the Institut on the Exposition, under the chair-
manship of G. de Mortillet, embraced many of the distinguished
anthropologists of Paris. The exhibition was supplemental to that
described in the former number of the Anthropologist, Jan., 1890,
including brain casts, histology of cerebral convolutions, craniology,
osteology, splanchnology, myology, anthropogeny, prehistoric an-
thropology, ethnic mineralogy, ethnography, history of religion and
demography.
The exposition of the Soci^t^, the Laboratoire and Tfecole, was
made in the pavilion des Arts Lib^raux, in the first story of the
apartments occupied by the minister of public instruction.
Much of the material exhibted was reclaimed by its owners, but
the Mus6e Broca was greatly enriched by the Exposition.
O. T. Mason.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] MYTHOLOGY OF THE MENOMONI INDIANS. 243
MTTHOLOQT OF THB MBNOMONI INDIANS.
BY W. J, HOFFMAN, M. D.
The following notes on the mythology of the Menomoni Indians
of Wisconsin were recently obtained from members of that tribe.
During the period of my investigations with them regarding the
present status of the Mita'wit, or Grand Medicine Society, and its
similarity to the corresponding society of the Ojibwas, and by them
termed the Mide'wiwin, many facts and traditions were obtained
relating to the origin of totems, animals, etc., some of which are
presented herewith as literally as possible.
Totems. — It is admitted that originally there was a greater number
of totems than at present. The tradition relating to some of them is
as follows : When the Great Spirit* made the earth he created also
numerous beings termed Manidos or spirits, giving them the forms
of animals and birds. Most of the former were malevolent *' under-
ground beings * ' — a-na'-maq-ki"*'. The latter consisted of eagles and
hawks, known as the Thunderers, a-na'-maq-ki', chief of which was
the invisible thunder, though represented by the Ki-ne'-u^', the
Golden eagle. When Ki-sha'-manido, the Good Spirit, saw that
the bear was still an animal he determined to allow the latter to
change his form. The Bear, still known as na-noq'-kS, was pleased
at what the Good Spirit was going to grant him, and he was made an
Indian, though with a light skin. This took place at mi'-ni-ka'-ni,
Menomoni river, near the spot where its waters empty into Green
Bay, and at this place, also, the Bear first came out of the ground.
He found himself alone, and decided to call to himself ki-n^-u^, the
Eagle, and said: "Eagle, come to me and be my brother."
Whereupon the Eagle descended, and also took the form of a human
being. While they were considering whom to call upon to join
them, they perceived the Beaver approaching. The Beaver requested
to be taken into the totem of the Thunderer, but being a woman she
was called na-ma'-ku-kiu', Beaver woman, and was adopted as
* Mesha Manido'. This term is not to be understood as implying a belief in
one supreme deity. There are several Manidos, each supreme in his own realm,
as well as many lesser spirits or deities. The word Ma-she — great, — is also used
as a variant.
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244 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
a younger brother of the Thunderer. [The term younger brother is
here employed in a generic sense and not specifically.] The totem
of the beaver is at present termed the po-wat'-i-not'. Soon there-
after, as the Bear and the Eagle were upon the banks of a river, they
saw a stranger, the Sturgeon (no-ma'-S), who was adopted by the
Bear as a younger brother and servant. In like manner o-mish'-
kosh, the Elk, was accepted by the thunderer as a younger brother
and water-carrier.
At another time the Bear was going up the Wisconsin river and,
becoming fatigued, sat down to rest. Near by was a waterfall, from
beneath which emerged moq-we'-o", the Wolf, who approached and
asked the Bear why he had wandered to that place. The Bear said
that he was on his way to the source of the river, but being fatigued
and unable to travel farther, he had come there to rest. At that
moment o-ta'-tshi, the Crane, was flying by, when the Bear called
to him and said : " Crane, carry me to my people, at the head of
the river, and I will take you for my younger brother. ' ' As the Crane
was taking the Bear upon his back the Wolf called out to the Bear,
saying : " Bear, take me also as a younger brother, for I am alone.* '
The Bear answered, " Come with me. Wolf, and I will accept you
also as my younger brother." This is how the Crane and the Wolf
became younger brothers of the Bear ; but as moq-we'-o"*, the Wolf,
afterwards permitted a'-nam, the Dog, and a-ba'-shush, the Deer,
to join him, these three are now recognized as a phratry, the Wolf
still being entitled to a seat in council upon the north side and with
the Bear phratry.
I-na'-maq-ki, the Big Thunder, lived at Winnebago Lake, near
Fond-du-Lac. The Good Spirit made the Thunderers the laborers
and to be of benefit to the whole world. When they return from
the southwest in the spring they bring the rains which make the
earth green and cause the plants and trees to grow. If it were not
for the Thunderers the earth would become parched, and the grass
burnt. The Good Spirit also gave to the Thunderers corn, the kind
known as squaw corn, which grows on small stalks and has ears of
various colors.
The Thunderers were also the fire-makers, having first received it
from Manabush, who had stolen it from an old man who dwelt upon
an island in the middle of a great lake.
The Thunderers decided to visit the Bear village at Minika'ni,
and when they arrived . at that place they asked the Bear to join
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] MYTHOLOGY OF THE MENOMONI INDIANS. 245
them, promising to give corn and fire in return for rice (which was
the property of the Bear) and sturgeon, which abounded in the
waters of Minika'ni. The Bear family agreed to this, and since
that time the two families have lived together. The Bear family
occupies the east side of the council, while the Thunderers sit in
the west. The latter are the war chiefs and have charge of the
lighting of the fire.
The Wolf came from moq-wa'-6 o-shi'-pi-o-m6' — " Wolf his creek."
The Dog, a-nam', was born at no'-ma-wiq'-ki-to — Sturgeon, Bay —
and joined the Wolf. The H-ba'-shush, Deer, came from sha-wa'-no
ni-pe'-she, Southern Lake, and together with the Dog joined the
Wolf at Menomoni river.
After this union the Bear built a long wigwam, extending north
and south, and a fire was kindled by the Thunderers in the middle.
From -this all the families receive fire, which is carried to them by
one of the Thunderers, and when the people travel the Thunderers
go on ahead to a camping place and start the fire to be used by all.
The totems or gentes as they exist at this day are as follows, ar-
ranged in their respective phratries and in order of importance,
viz : —
I. Theo-wa'-shS wi-di-shi'-an-un, or Bear phratry:
0-wa'-sh€ Bear.
Ki-ta'-mi" Porcupine.
Miq-ka'-n6 Turtle.
0-ta-tshi' Crane.
Moq-we'-o" Wolf.
Mi-kek' Otter.
No-ma'-e" Sturgeon.
Na-ku'-ti Sun Fish.
Although the Wolf is recognized as a member of the above phratry,
his true position is at the head of the third.
II. The I-na'-maq-ki wi-di-shi'-an-un, or Big Thunder phratry :
Ki-ne'-ii' Golden Eagle.
Sha-wa'-na-ni' Fork-Tailed Hawk.
Pi-nash'-i" Bald Eagle.
O-pash'-ko-shi Turkey Buzzard.
Pa-kash'-tshe-k6» .... Swift-Flying Hawk.
P6-ki'-ke-ku'-nS Winter Hawk. Remains
all winter in Wisconsin.
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246 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Ke-she'-wa-t5'-shS .... Sparrow Hawk.
Maq-kwo'-ka-ni Red-Tailed Hawk.
Ka-ka'-kS Raven.
I-naq'-tik Crow.
Pi-wat'-i-ndt' Beaver (former name, No-
ma-i').
0-mash-k6sh Elk.
U-na'-wa-nink Pine Squirrel.
III. The moq-we'-o° wi-di-shi'-an-un, or Wolf phratry, consists of
the following :
Moq-w€'-o» Wolf.
A-nam' Dog.
A-ba'-shush Deer.
The presence of some of the totems in the preceding phratries
will be accounted for in the following traditions :
After the several totems congregated and united into an organ-
ized body for mutual benefit they still were without the means of
providing themselves with food, excepting that above mentioned,
medicinal plants and the power to ward off disease and death.
When the Good Spirit beheld the people upon the new earth and
found them afflicted with hardships and disease and exposed to con-
starit annoyance from the malevolent underground spirits, the a-ni'-
maq-ki", he concluded to provide them with the means of bettering
their condition, and accomplished it by sending down to the earth
one of his companion spirits, named Manabush. This is explained
in the following tradition, called '* The Story of Manabush," or
Mci -na-bushl 'A' 'ta-n^ -quen.
There was an old woman named Nok6mis, who had an unmar-
ried daughter. The daughter gave birth to twin boys, one of whom
died, as did also the mother. Nok6mis then wrapped the living
child in soft, dry grass, laid it upon the ground at the extreme end
of her wigwam, and placed over it a wooden bowl to protect it. She
then took the body of her daughter and the other grandchild and
buried them at some distance from her habitation. When she re-
turned to the wigwam she sat down and mourned for four days ; but
at the expiration of the fourth day she heard a slight noise within
the wigwam, which she soon found to come from the wooden bowl.
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July 1890.] MYTHOrX>GY OP THE MENOMONI INDIANS. 247
The bowl moved, and then she suddenly remembered that her liv-
ing grandchild had been put under it. Upon removing the bowl
she beheld a little white rabbit with quivering ears, and upon tak-
ing it up said, "Oh ! my dear little rabbit, my Manabush." She
cherished it, and it grew. One day the rabbit sat up on its haunches
and hopped slowly across the floor of the wigwam, which caused the
earth to tremble. Then the i-na'-maq-ki'", or bad spirits beneath
the earth, said to one another, ** What has happened ? A great
Manido is born somewhere,** and they immediately began to devise
means to destroy Manabush.
When Manabush grew to be a young man he thought it time to
prepare himself to assist his uncles, the people, to better their con-
dition. He then said to Nok6mis, ** Grandmother, make for me
two sticks, that I may be able to sing.*' [These sticks, pa'-ka-h6k'-
a-nak, are used as drumsticks in keeping time when singing songs
of a sacred character.] Nok6mis made the sticks for Manabush,
when he left the wigwam and selected an open, flat surface, where
he built a " long house ** or wigwam. He then began to sing, call-
ing his uncles together, and told them that he would give them the
Mita", so that they could cure disease. He gave them plants for
food, so that they should no longer want for anything. He gave
them medicine bags made of the skins of the mink, the weasel, the
black rattlesnake, the missasauga rattlesnake, and the panther. Into
each of these he put samples of all the medicines, and taught their
use. Manabush lived for many years after this and taught his uncles
how to do many useful things.
The word Manabush comes from Ma'-sh6, great, and Wab6sh',
rabbit, and signifies "Great Rabbit,'* because he was to perform
great deeds. The ceremony which took place when Menabush con-
ferred upon his uncles the power of using medicines in curing disease
and in warding off" death is now performed annually at the initiation
of members into the Mita'wit, or Grand Medicine Society.
Mci-she-nd-mak, The Great Fish.
The people were much distressed by a water-monster, or giant
fish, which frequently caught fishermen, dragged them into the lake
and there devoured them. So Manabush asked his grandmother
to hand to him his singing-sticks, and told her he was going to allow
himself to be swallowed, that he might be enabled to destroy the
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248 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
monster. So Manabush built a small raft and floated out upon the
lake, singing all the while, *' Ma'-she-no'-mak, come and eat me, you
will feel good." Then the monster Ma'shS-no'-mak, saw that it was
Manabush, and told his children to swallow him. When one of the
young of Ma'-sh6-no'-mak darted forward to swallow Manabush, the
latter said, * * I want Ma'-shS-no'-mak to swallow me. ' ' This made the
monster so angry that he swallowed Manabush, whereupon the latter
became unconscious. When Manabush recovered, he found himself
in company with his brothers. He saw the Bear, the Deer, the Por-
cupine, the Raven, the Pine squirrel, and many others. He inquired
of them how they came to meet with such misfortune, and was very
sad to find that other kinsmen also were lying dead. •
Then Manabush prepared to sing the war song, during which it
is customary to state the object of making the attack and the manner
in which it is to be attempted.
He told his brothers to dance with him, and all joined in singing.
The Pine squirrel had a voice unlike the rest, and hopped around
rapidly, singing sSk'-sSk' s6k'-s€k, which amused the rest even in their
distress. As the dancers passed around the interior of the monster
it made him reel, and when Manabush danced past his heart he
thrust his knife toward it, which caused the monster to have a con-
vulsion. Thus Manabush thrust his knife three times toward the
monster's heart, after which he said to the. monster, **Swim toward
my wigwam," and immediately after Manabush thrust his knife into
the heart, which caused the monster's body to quake and roll so vio-
lently that every one became unconscious. How long they remained
in this condition they knew not, but upon returning to consciousness
Manabush found everything motionless and silent. He knew then
that the monster was dead, and that his body was lying either upon
the shore or upon the bottom of the lake. To make sure, he crawled
over the bodies of his brothers to a point where he could cut an
opening through the monster's body. When he had cut a small
opening he saw bright daylight; then he immediately closed the hole,
took his singing sticks and began to sing :
Ke'-sik-in-na'-min, ke'-sik-in-na'-min.
I see the sky, I see the sky.
As Manabush continued to sing, his brothers recovered. The
Squirrel was the one who hopi>ed around, singing the words sek'-
sek' sek'-sck', sSk'-sek' sek'-sek. When the dance was concluded,
Manabush cut a large opening in the monster's belly, through
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which they emerged. As the survivors were about to separate to go
to their respective wigwams they all complimented the pine squirrel
upon his fine voice, and Manabush said to him, ** My younger
brother, you will also be happy, as you have a good voice.*' Thus
Manabush destroyed Ma'-sh6-no'-mak.
Manabush ami his Brother.
When Manabush had accomplished the works for which the Good
Spirit sent him down to the earth, he went far away and built his
wigwam on the northeast shore of a large lake, where he took up
his abode. As he was alone, the good manidos concluded to give
hkn for a companion his twin brother, whom they brought to life
and called na*'-pa-t6', which signifies an expert marksman. He was
formed like a human being, but, being a manido, could assume the
shape of a Wolf, in which form he hunted for food. Manabush was
aware of the anger of the bad manidos who dwelt beneath the earth,
the a-ni'-miq-ki"', and warned his brother, the Wolf, never to return
home by crossing the lake, but always to go around it by the shore.
Once, after the Wolf had been hunting all day long, he found him-
self directly opposite his wigwam, and being tired concluded to
cross the lake. He had not gone half way across when the ice
broke, the Wolf was seized by the bad manidos and destroyed.
Manabush at once knew what had befallen his brother, and in his
distress mourned for four days. Every time that Manabush sighed
the earth trembled, which caused the hills and ridges to form upon
its surface. Then the shade of Moqwe'o", the Wolf, appeared be-
fore Manabush and, knowing that his brother could not be restored
to him, Minabush told him to follow the path of the setting sun and
there l>ecome the chief of the shadows in the hereafter, where all
would meet. Manabush then secreted himself in a large rock near
Mackinaw.
Here his uncles, the people, for many years visited Manabush,
and they always built a long lodge, the me-ta'-wit, where they sang.
So when Manabush did not wish to see them in his human form he
appeared to them in the form of a little white rabbit with trembling
ears, just as he had first appeared to Nok6mis.
The Origin of the Bait Game.
Manabush wanted to discover and destroy those of the a-na'-maq-
ki"', or underground evil manidos, who were instrumental in the death
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250 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
of his brother, the Wolf. He therefore instituted the ball game, and
asked the Thunderers to come and play against the ^-nS.'-maq-ki"'
as their opponents, after which the game should be the property of
the Thunderers. The Ki-ne'-u', Golden Eagle, came in response
to this invitation and brought with him the ball. He was accom-
panied by all the other Thunderers, his brothers and younger
brothers. Then the a-na'-maq-ki"' began to come out of the ground,
the first two to appear being the head chiefs— one a powerful silvery
white bear, the other having a gray coat. These were followed by
their brothers and younger brothers.
The place selected by Manabush for a ball-ground was near a
large sand-bar on a great lake not far from where Mackinaw is now
located. Adjoining the sand-bar was a large grove of trees, in the
midst of which was a clearing, smooth and covered with grass. At
one end of this clearing was a knoll, which was taken possession of
by the bear chiefs, from which point they could watch the progress
of the game. Then the i-na'-maq-ki*' placed themselves on one
side of the ball-ground, while the Thunderers took the other, each
of the latter selecting a player from among their opponents, as the
players always go by pairs.
After the game was started Manabush approached the grove of
trees, and while cautiously following a stream which led near to the
knoll he discovered an Indian painting himself. While watching
the process Manabush saw the Indian take clay, spread it upon his
hands, and then scratching off some with the finger-nails, so that the
remainder appeared like parallel stripes, the hands were then slapped '
upon the shoulders, arms, and the sides of the body. Then Mana-
bush said to the Indian, ** Who are you and what are you doing?"
to which the Indian replied in the Ottawa tongue, " I amKe-ta'-ki-
bi'-hot and I am dressing myself to play ball. Do you not see they
are going to have a great time out thereupon the ball-ground?
Come and join the game." ** No," said Manabush, **I will not
play, but look on."
[Ke-ta'-kl-bi'-h6t in the Menomoni language is Ke-ta'-ki-bi-hit,
and signifies ** the striped one." His modern name is Na-ku'-ti,
the Sun-Fish.]
Manabush watched NakQti as he went upon the ball-field, and saw
that he paired himself with u-na'-wa-nink', the pine squirrel of the
Thunderers. Manabush then continued towards the knoll to see
who were his chief enemies. When he had gone as near as possible
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July 1890.] MYTHOLOGY OF THE MENOMONI INDIANS. 251
without being seen he climbed a large tree, from which he had a
good view of the progress of the game, and upon looking at the
knoll he saw the two bear chiefs lying there quietly, also watching
the ball game.
The game lasted all day without either side gaining any advan-
tage, and when the sun was setting the players returned to their
wigwams.
At night Manabush descended from the tree in which he had been
sitting, approached the knoll, and stood upon a spot between the
places which had been occupied by the bear chiefs. He then said,
** I want to be a pine tree, cut off half way between the ground and
the top, with two strong branches reaching over the places upon
which the bear chiefs lie down." Being a manido, he immediately
became a tree, as he desired. When the players returned next morn-
ing to resume the ball game, the bear chiefs and the other ^-na'-miq-
ki"'said, "This tree was not standing here yesterday ; *' but the Thun-
derers all replied that it had been there. Then a discussion followed,
during which the two sets of players retired to their respective sides,
and the game was thus postponed for a while. The bear chiefs con-
cluded that the tree must be Manabush, and they at once decided
to destroy him. So they sent for the Grizzly Bear to come to their •
assistance, and asked him to climb the tree, to tear the bark from
the trunk, and to scratch his throat and face. When the Grizzly
Bear had torn the bark from the trunk, bitten the branches, and had
scratched the top of the trunk at a point where the head and neck
of a human being would be, he gave it up and descended. The
bear chiefs then called upon a monster serpent, which was lying in
the brush close by, and asked it to bite and strangle the tree. The
ser|)ent wrapped itself around the trunk and tightened its coils uptil
Manabush was almost strangled, although he was able to endure the
bites which the serpent inflicted upon his head, neck, and arms.
Before Manabush become entirely unconscious it uncoiled and glided
down. The Bear Kings then believed that the tree was not Mana-
bush, so they lay down near the trunk and caused the game to begin.
After a long and furious struggle the ball was carried so far from the
starting point that the bear chiefs were left entirely alone, when in
an instant Manabush drew an arrow from the quiver hanging at his
side, shot one into the body of the silvery-white bear chief, and
another into the body of the gray bear chief. Then Manabush re-
sumed his human form and ran for the sand-bar. He had not prO'
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252 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
ceeded far, however, when the defeated H-na'-maq-ki'*' returned,
saw what had happened, and set out in pursuit of Manabush. The
waters poured out of the ground and followed with such speed that,
just as Manabush was about being overtaken, he saw ma'-na-kwo, the
badger, and begged him to help secrete him in the earth. The
Badger took Manabush down into the earth, and as he burrowed
threw the loose dirt behind him, which retarded the waters.
The a-na'-maq-ki°' could nowhere find Manabush ; so they gave up
the pursuit, and just as the waters were sinking into the depths of
the burrow, Manabush and the Badger returned to the surface.
When the a-na'-maq-ki"' returned to the ball-ground they took
up their wounded chiefs and carried them home, erecting at a short
distance from camp a sick-lodge, in which the wounded were at-
tended by a Mita''', Shaman. Fearing that Manabush might return
to complete his work of destroying the two bear chiefs, the §.-na'-
maq-ki'*' began the erection of a net- work of strands of basswood,
which was to enclose the entire sick-lodge. When Manabush came
near the camp of the a-na'-maq-ki'*' he met an old woman carrying
a bundle of basswood bark upon her back and asked her, ** Grand-
mother, what have you upon your back ? ' ' The old woman replied,
" You are Manabush and wish to kill me.'* '* No," he replied, " I
am not Manabush, for if I were Manabush I should have killed you
at once, without asking you a question.'* So, having quieted the
old woman* s fears, she began to relate to Manabush all of the
troubles which had befallen the a-na'-maq-ki"', and said, " We have
built a net-work of strands of basswood bark around the wigwam in
which the bear chiefs are lying sick ; so that if Manabush should
come to kill them he would have to cut his way through it, which
would cause it, to shake when the a-na'-maq-ki"' would discover and
kill him. We have only a little more of the net-work to make, when
it will be complete/* The old woman also told Manabush that she
herself was the Meta" who attended to the two chiefs, and that no
other person was permitted to enter the wigwam.
When Manabush heard all this he struck the old woman and killed
her, after which he removed her skin and got into it himself, took
the bundle of basswood bark upon his back, and in this disguise
passed undetected into the sick-lodge. Here he found the two bear
chiefs with the arrow-shafts still protruding from their bodies.
Manabush then took hold of the shaft of the arrow protruding from
the body of the silvery-white bear chief and, thrusting it deeper into
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July 1890.] MYTHOLOGY OF THE MENOMONI INDIANS. 253
the wound, killed him. Then he killed the gray bear chief in the
same way, after which he skinned both bodies, dressed the skins,
and rolled them into a bundle. When Manabtish was ready to de-
part he went out of the wigwam through the opening left by the old
woman, and when he reached the extreme outside end of the net-
work he shook it violently to let the i-n^'-maq-ki"' know that he had
been there and had accomplished the destruction of his chief enemies.
The a-na'-maq-ki"' at once pursued Manabush, as did also the waters,
which flowed out of the earth at many places. Manabush, fearing
to be overtaken, at once ascended the highest mountain in view,
the waters closely pursuing him. Upon the summit he found a gi-
gantic pine tree, which he climbed to the very top. The waters soon
reached him, and then he called out to the tree to grow twice its
height, which it did ; but soon the waters were again at his feet,
when he again caused the tree to grow twice its original height. In
time the waters rose to where Manabush was perched, and he again
caused the tree to grow twice its original height, to which in time
the waters again made their way. A fourth time Manabush caused
the tree to grow, and for the fourth time the water rose up until it
reached his arm-pits. Then Manabush called to the Good Spirit
for help, saying that as he had been sent to the earth he begged for
help against the anger of the a-na'-maq-ki"'.
The Good Spirit caused the waters to cease their pursuit, and
then Manabush looked around him and found only small animals
struggling in the water, seeking for a foothold, which was nowhere
visible.
Presently Manabush observed the otter, and he called to him and
said, "Otter, come to me and be my brother; dive down into the
water and bring up some earth, that I may make a new world."
The Otter dived down into the water, where he remained for a long
time ; but when he returned to the surface Manabush saw him float-
ing with his belly uppermost, and knew that the Otter was dead.
Then Manabush looked around and saw the Beaver swimming upon
the surface of the water, and said : " Beaver, come to me and be my
brother ; dive down into the water and bring up some earth, that I
may make a new world.*' The Beaver dived down into the water
and tried to reach the bottom. After a long interval Manabush
saw him floating upon the surface, belly uppermost, and then knew
that he too had failed to reach the bottom. Again Manabush looked
about to see who could accomplish the feat, when he saw the Mink
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254 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
and said : " Mink, come to me and be my brother ; dive down into
the water and bring up some earth, that I may make a new world.'*
Then the Mink disappeared beneath the water, where he remained
for a long time, and when he reappeared he was floating with his
belly uppermost, and Manabush knew that the Mink also had
perished.
Manabush looked about once more and saw only the Muskrat, when
he called out and said : "Muskrat, come to me and be my brother ;
dive down into the water and bring up some earth, that I may make
a new world." The Muskrat immediately complied with the wish
of Manabush and dived down into the water. He remained so long
beneath the surface that Manabush thought he could not return
alive, and when he did come to the surface it was with the belly
uppermost. Then Manabush took the Muskrat in his hands and
found adhering to the fore paws a minute quantity of earth. Then
Manabush held the muskrat up, blew upon him, and restored him to
life. Then Manabush rubbed between his palms the particle of
earth and scattered it broadcast, when the new earth was formed
and trees appeared. Then Manabush thanked the Muskrat and told
him his people should always be numerous, and have enough to eat,
wherever he should choose to live.
Then Manabush found the Badger, to whom he gave the skin of
the gray bear chief, which he wears to this day, retaining the skin
of the silvery-white bear chief for his own use.
The Origin of Fire and the Canoe.
Manabush, when he was still a youth, once said to his grand-
mother Nokomis, ** Grandmother, it is cold here and we have no
fire ; let me go and pjet some.'* Nok6mis endeavored to dissuade
him from such a perilous undertaking, but he insisted upon it ; so
he made a canoe of bark, and, once more assuming the form
of a Rabbit, started toward the east, across a large body of water,
where dwelt an old man who had fire. As the Rabbit approached
the island it was still night ; so he went on shore and traveled along
until he came in sight of the sacred wigwam of the old man. This
old man had two daughters, who, when they emerged from the
sacred wigwam, saw a little Rabbit, wet and cold, and carefully tak-
ing it up they carried it into the sacred wigwam, where they set it
down near the fire to warm.
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July 1880.] MYTHOLOGY OP THE MENOMONI INDIANS. 255
The Rabbit was permitted to remain near the fire while the girls
went about the sacred wigwam to attend to their duties. The Rab-
bit then hopped a little nearer toward the fire, to endeavor to grasp
a coal, but as he moved the earth shook and disturbed the old man,
who was slumbering. The old man said, ** My daughters, what
causes this disturbance? ** The daughters said it was nothing ; that
they were only trying to dry and warm a poor little rabbit which
they had found. When the two girls were again occupied, the Rab-
bit grasped a stick of burning wood and ran with all speed toward
the place where he had left his canoe, closely pursued by the girls
and the old man. The Rabbit reached his canoe in safety and
pushed off, hastening with all speed toward his grandmother's home.
The velocity of the canoe caused such a current of air that the fire-
brand began to burn fiercely ; so by the time he reached shore No-
k6mis, who had been awaiting the Rabbit's return, saw that sparks
of fire had burned his skin in various places. She immediately took
the fire from him, and then dressed his wounds, after which they
soon healed. The Thunderers received the fire from Nok6mis, and
have had the care of it ever since.
Ka-ktZ-e-n^j the Jumper, and the Origin of Tobacco.
One day Manabush was passing by a high mountain, when he per-
ceived a delightful odor, which seemed to come from a crevice in
the cliffs. Upon going closer he found the mountain inhabited by
a Giant, who was known to be the keeper of the tobacco. Manabush
then went to the mouth of a cavern and entered. Following a pass-
age which led down into the very center of the mountain, he found a
large chamber occupied by the Giant, who asked him in a very stern
manner what he wanted. . Manabush replied that he had come for
some tobacco, but was told that he would have to come again in
one year from that time, as the spirits had just been there for their
smoke, and that ceremony occurred but once a year. Manabush,
upon looking around the chamber, observed great quantities of bags
filled with tobacco, one of which he snatched and darted out of the
mountain, closely pursued by the Giant. Manabush took to the
mountain tops and leaped from peak to peak, but the giant followed
so rapidly that when Manabush finally came to a peak, the opposite
of which presented a high vertical cliff, he suddenly lay down flat
upon the rocks, while the Giant leaped over him and down into the
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256 THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
chasm beyond. The Giant was much bruised, but managed to climb
up the face of the cliff until he almost reached the summit, where
he hung, as his finger-nails had all worn off. Then Manabush
grasped the giant by the back, drew him up and threw him vio-
lently to the ground and said, " For your meanness you shall become
Kla-ku'-e-ne"', the Jumper (or grasshopper^, and you shall be known
by your stained mouth. You shall become the pest of those who
raise tobacco."
Then Manabush took the tobacco and divided it amongst his
brothers and younger brothers, giving to each some of the seed, that
they might never be without the means of having this plant for
their use and enjoyment.
Manabush and the Birds.
While Manabush was once walking along a lake shore, tired and
hungry, he observed a long narrow sand bar, which extended far
out into the water, all around which were myriads of water fowl.
Then Manabush decided to secure a feast. He had with him only
his medicine bag ; so he re-entered the brush and hung it upon a
tree, now called *• Manabush Tree/* and procured a quantity of
bark, which he rolled into a bundle, took it upon his back, returned
to the shore, and there, slowly walking along in sight of the birds,
pretended to pass on. Some of the swans and ducks moved away
from the shore, having recognized Manabush and being afraid of
him.
One of the swans called out, ** Ho ! Manabush, where are you
going ? *' He replied, " I am going to have a song. As you may
see, I have all my songs with me." Manabush then called out to
the birds, ** Come to me, my brothers, and let us sing and dance."
The birds assented and returned to the shore, when all retreated a
short distance away from the lake to an open space where they could
dance. Then Manabush put his bundle of bark down upon the
ground, got out his singing sticks, and said to the birds : " Now,
all of you dance around me as I drum ; sing as loudly as you can,
and keep your eyes closed. The first one to open his eyes will for-
ever have them red and sore." Then Manabush began to beat time
upon his bundle of bark, while the birds, with eyes closed, began
to circle around him, singing as loud as they could. Beating time
with one hand, Manabush suddenly caught a swan by the neck and
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July 1890.] MYTHOLOGY OP THE MENOMONI INDIANS. 257
broke it; but before he had killed the bird it screamed out, where-
upon Manabush said, "That is right, brothers, sing as loud as you
can." Then another swan fell a victim; then a goose, and so on
until the number was greatly reduced. Then the "hell diver**
(grebe sp, ?) opened his eyes to see why there was less singing than
at first, and beheld Manabush and the heap of victims, when he cried
out, " Manabush is killing us ! Manabush is killing us ! *' and imme-
diately ran for the water, followed by the remainder of the other
birds.
As the "hell diver** was a poor runner, Manabush soon caught
up with him, and said, " I won't kill you, but you shall always have
red eyes, and be the laughing-stock of all the birds,'* and with that
gave him a kick which sent him far out into the lake, and knocked
off his tail, so that he looked just as he does at this day.
Manabush then gathered up the birds and taking them out upon
the sand-bar, there buried the bodies, some with their heads pro-
truding, others with the feet sticking out of the sand, when he built
a fire that the bodies might be thoroughly cooked. As this would
require some time, and as Manabush was tired after all his exertions,
he decided to lie down and sleep ; so, to be informed if any one ap-
proached, he slapped his thigh and said, " You watch the birds and
awaken me if any one should come near them ; ** then lying down
with his back to the fire, he fell asleep.
After a while a party of Indians came along in their canoes and,
seeing the feast in store, went to the sand-bar and took out every
bird which Manabush had so carefully deposited, but put back the
heads and feet, so that nothing remained upon the surface to indicate
that the bodies had been disturbed. When the Indians had feasted
they left, taking with them all that remained.
Some time after Manabush awoke, and, behig very hungry, went to
enjoy the fruits of his stratagem. Upon attempting to pull a baked
swan out of the sand he found nothing but the head and neck,
which he held in his hand ; then he tried another and found the
body of that gone also. He met with disappointment in every in-
stance. But who could have robbed him ? Then he struck his thigh
and asked, " Who has been here to rob me of my feast. Did I not
command you to watch while I slept? ** His thigh responded, '* I
also fell asleep, as I was very tired ; but I see some people moving
rapidly away in their canoes, and think they were the thieves. I
see they are very dirty and poorly dressed.*' Then Manabush ran
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258 THE AMEEICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
out to the point of the sand-bar and beheld the people in their
canoes, just disappearing around a point of land ; then he called to
them and reviled them, calling them ** Win'nibe'go ! Winnibe'go ! "
This is how the Menomoni have ever since designated their
thievish neighbors.
The "Whizzing- Stick*' or "Bull- Roarer*' on the West
Coast of Africa. — Governor Maloney, of Lagos (west coast of
Africa), in his article on the Melodies of the People of West Africa,
describes the ceremonial use of this well-known object, particularly
among the Egbas (people of Abbeokuta) (Journal of the Manchester
Geographical Society, Vol. 5, p. 293). * * * "The Oro drums
* * * are used with the Oro stick to proclaim meetings of the
Oro Society * * * convened for the trial of public offenders,
for the consideration of State questions, etc. Here a description
of Oro may not be out of place. It represents the active embodi-
ment of the civil power, its mysterious head or idol. It has been
interpreted as the executive of the State deified. The Oro stick,
by which proclamation also takes place, is comprised of a stick re-
sembling the handle of a whip, from the thin end of which is sus-
pended, by means of a piece of string of some native fibre, a fiat,
thin tongue-shaped piece of wood about five inches long and two
inches broad.
"The Egbas (Yorubas) resort pre-eminently to this practice, and
when ' Oro is out' all women, under pain of death, are obliged to
remain shut up in their homes. The greatest reverence is extended
to this instrument. I have seen even persons professing to be
Christians awe-struck Tn its presence. By means of the handle of
the Oro stick the tongue is given a rapid circular motion in the air,
and this causes a weird noise, not unlike that we hear on stormy
nights when the wind is playing down the chimneys. When such
a noise is heard Oro is said to be out.**
This instrument is thus one of the most solemn ceremony, as
has been observed among the Australians and other savages. Curi-
ously enough, among the Eskimos of northwestern Alaska, where
Hie " whizzing-stick** is common, it is as purely a child*s toy as it
is among civilized people.
John Murdoch.
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July 1890.] COSUMNES TRIBES OP CALIFORNIA. 259
NOTES ON THB COSUMNES TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA.
BY JAMES MOONEY.
The following notes respecting the Cosumnes of California were
obtained from Col. Z. A. Rice, of Atlanta, Georgia, who went to
California in 1850 and spent several years in the immediate vicinity
of the tribe, which formerly lived in the Sacramento basin, but iS
now practically extinct, having melted away like snow before the
pitiless onset of the gold-hunter.
The Indians went almost naked, dressing being reserved for festive
and ceremonial occasions. They were very fond of nose and ear
rings, shell and stone beads, and paint. Their houses were of bark,
sometimes thatched with grass and covered with earth. The bark
was loosened from the trees by repeated blows with stone hatchets,
the latter having the head fastened to the. handle by means of deer
sinews. Their ordinary weapons were bows and stone (chert) tipped
arrows. The women made finely woven, conical baskets of grass,
the smaller ones being used to hold water, while a larger kind was
slung upon the back by means of a band pressing over the forehead,
and was used in gathering seeds and grasshoppers. Like most
Indians they were very fond of dogs, and there was always a large
pack of yelping mongrel curs at every rancheria or hanging on the
outskirts at dance gatherings and other public meetings.
Their food included almost everything — from pine nuts to clover
tops and from grizzly bears to grasshoppers. They were fond of
the nutritious seeds of the nut pine, which on this account was.
known as the ** digger pine " by the miners. As the trunks of
these trees are frequently without branches to a height of thirty or
forty feet from the ground, the Indians ascended them by means of
spliced poles long enough to reach to the first limbs. The pole was
held in place by Indians on the ground, while an expert climber
ascended and beat off the pine cones with a short pole. In the clover
season, when the meadows were bright with pink and white blossoms,
whole rancherias went out literally to graze, and the Indians might
be seen lying prone in the herbage, masticating the clover tops like
so many cattle. Wild oats also were abundant, and likewise were
eaten raw. '
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260 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Another herb, known to the miners as " wild coUard/' was boiled
and eaten as greens. The mode of boiling was peculiar and closely
resembles the method best known from its practice by the Assini-
boins. A hole was dug in the the earth and plastered on the inside
with wet clay, so as to form a rude kind of pot. Into this the
herbs were put and covered with water, which was carried to the
spot in grass-woven baskets. Next a fire was built and stones
heated, which were then dipped quickly into a basket of water to
remove the ashes, and put into the pot. In a few moments the
water boiled and the mess was cooked.
The grasshopper hunt was a great event in Digger society, and
was conducted in a very systematic manner. A whole settlement
would turn out and begin operations by starting a number of small
fires at regular intervals in a circle through the woods, guiding
the flame by raking up the pine needles, and stamping out the fire
when it spread too far. When the fires burned out there was left
a narrow strip of bare ground enclosing a circular area of several
acres, within which the game was confined. A large fire was then
kindled at a point inside of the circle, taking advantage of the direc-
tion of the wind, and allowed to spread unchecked. The men, armed
with bows and arrows and accompanied by their dogs, kept to the
windward in front of the fire and shot down the rabbits and other
small animals as the heat drove them from cover, while the women,
with their conical baskets on their backs, followed up the fire to
gather up the grasshoppers, which merely had their wings singed by
the fire, but were not killed. As a squaw picked up a hopper she
crushed its head between her thumb and finger to kill it, and then
tossed it over her shoulder into the basket.
When the hunt was over, a hole about two feet deep was dug in
the c:ii th and filled with bark, which was then set on fire. When
the heat was most intense the coals were raked out and the grass-
hoppers thrown in and thus roasted. Colonel Rice has even seen •
the Indians eat the grasshoppers alive, merely taking the precaution
to pull off the rough legs, which might have a tendency to tickle
the throat. Quails, fish, and squirrels were also roasted whole,
although the fastidious savage always dipped them in water to
remove the ashes and cool the meats before beginning his meal.
Their amusements were dancing, foot-ball, and card games, the
latter adopted from the whites. In 1851 the natives on Dry creek,
near Fiddletown, held a great dance. In its general features the
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] COSUMNES TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA. 261
performance, which seemed to be some kind of a war dance, re-
sembled Indian dances all over the continent. It was held in the
open air, when the ground was parched and dry from long drouth —
the dancers, men -and women, moving around in a circle singing
monotonous chants, occasionally varied by a chorus of yells. The
nien carried bows and arrows in their hands, while the women
wore rattles of terrapin shells upon their legs. These shells were
filled with pebbles and fastened upon a strip of fiir which was belted
on at the knee and ankle precisely like those which the writer has
seen worn by the Cherokees, excepting that on the Cosumnes and
Moquelumne rivers the shells were arranged in a single row instead
of in a square pattern. In the slower movements of the dance the
terrapin rattles make no sound, but when the women stamp the noise
sounds like that of buckshot falling into a tin pan. The orchestral
accompaniment was of the most primitive sort. Some of the per-
formers simply carried a couple of sticks which they struck together,
keeping time with the chorus. The drum was a half section of a
hollow log, placed on the ground with the convex side up, while
several stout fellows in moccasined feet stood upon it and stamped
in unison with the general din. As the ground was dry and the
dancers circled round and round in the same path, singing, yelling,
and stamping, clouds of dust rose and settled upon their faces and
bodies, while the streams of perspiration, trickling down in furrows
through the paint and dirt, made them look like so many devils.
The dance, of course, was a religious ceremonial, and during its
progress my informant noticed two Indians, a man and his wife,
sitting a short distance apart from the dancers, rocking their bodies
from side to side and uttering low piteous moans, while the tears
streamed down their faces and their whole manner betokened the
most abject grief. On questioning an interpreter it was found that
their only child was lying at home dangerously ill ; that th^y had
exhausted every remedy and performed every rite known to the
shamans without avail, and now, as a last resort, they had come
here to weep and pray until the sun went down that their loved one
might not be taken away from them. It was the one touch that
brought red and white alike to the level of a common humanity.
Their foot-ball game was more properly a foot-race.* Two par-
allel tracks were laid off and each party had its own ball. Two
* See account of Zufti Foot-Race p. 225.
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262 TUB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOUST. [Vol. III.
athletic young fellows, representing the two contending parties, took
their stand at one end, each with a ball on the ground in front of
him, and at the signal each kicks it along his respective track towards
the goal. All along the line were stationed relays- of players, whose
duty it was to assist in getting the ball through. It was a rough-
and-tumble game to see who should kick the ball, for no one was
allowed to touch it with his hand. Two posts were put up at each
end of the track and the ball must be driven between these posts.
Betting was heavy, the stakes being Indian trinkets of all kinds,
and judges and stake-holders presided with a great deal of dignity.
The score was kept by means of an even number of short sticks,
and as each player drove the ball home he drew out one of the
sticks, and so on until the game was won. It was a very exciting
play and aroused as much interest as does a horse race among the
whites.
Their principal deity seemed to be the sun, and the women had
a ceremony somewhat resembling the sun dance of the upper Mis-
souri tribes. The petitioner took her position at daybreak, sitting
upon the ground, with eyes intently fixed upon the sun, and tears
streaming down her cheeks. She continued to send up prayers and
lamentations all day, turning her body with the sun until it sank
below the western hills in the evening.
The dead were buried in the earth, although farther south, beyond
the Moquelumne river, among tribes of different linguistic stock,
instances of scaffold burial were observed. The women, as was
natural, were the most demonstrative in their grief. On the death
of a relative they cut off their hair and smeared their faces with
pine pitch and soot. For months after the funeral they paid ixiriodic
visits to the grave, lamenting as if over a new bereavement, while
they placed offerings of beads upon the grave and poured libations
of water upon the green turf.
'The Greenlanders. — Ausland for January 27, 1890, publishes
some observations on the Greenlanders from the journal of a Danish
missionary. They contain but little technographical information,
but are chiefly interesting for the view they give of the relations be-
tween the missionary and his converts in regard to the old heathen
customs, such as witchcraft, blood -feud, etc. (Z>/V Gronldnder.
Nach dent tagcbuch eines missionars aus dem Ddnischen, Ausland,
Vol. 63, p. 66-71.) John Murdoch.
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July 1890.] INDIAN PERSONAL NAMES. 263
INDIAN PERSONAL NAMES.
BY J. OWEN DORSEY.
At the Ann Arbor meeting of this Association, in 1885, it was
the writer's privilege to read a \yaiper on the subject of Indian Per-
sonal Names. This was published in full in Vol. 34 of the Proceed-
ings. A letter from Professor Chamberlin, of Toronto, induced the
writer to undertake the preparation of an extensive monograph on
the same subject, which will be published by the Bureau of Ethnology.
There will be six lists, in which the Indian names will precede
their English meanings : Winnebago, consisting of 380 names ;
Iowa, Oto, and Missouri, of 506 names; Kwapa, of 15; Osage, of
470; Kansa, of 593; and Omaha and Ponka, of 1,182, making a
total of 3,146 names gained by the writer from members of the
tribes mentioned. All these tribes have their gentes named after
animals.
It is the wish of the writer to collate the names of these six lists
with those of the Dakota, Assiniboin, and other Siouan tribes, as
given in the schedules of the census of 1880. All such names
mentioned in this paper are taken from the schedules of that census.
Each of the six lists will have its names in the original Indian,
arranged in alphabetical order and numbered consecutively, without
regard to the other Indian-English lists. Each Indian-English list
will be preceded by an account of the gentes of the tribe or tribes
using the names, and a list of abbreviations. In the list itself will be
several columns : i, the number of the personal name; 2, the gens,
and sometimes the sub-gens, in which it is found ; 3, the animal
name, etc., associated with the gens or sub-gens ; 4, the sex of the
person bearing the name ; 5, the name in the original, with its
English meaning. Cross-references will be made whenever prac-
ticable. Two examples are given of the beginnings of these lists.
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264 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Tciwere {Iowa, Oto, and Missouri) List,
Iowa
gens.
Oto and
Mo. gens.
Animal
name.
Sex.
•
Personal name.
( )
m.
A-he^ a-ki-we^-nun» He Ooes Running
to the HUL Mary La Fl^he said
that this was a feminine name.
Tee.
Eagle, etc.
m.
A-hu^ tha-ke, Hard (f) Wings.
( )
m.
A-hu^ the^-we, Black Winga,
P.
Beaver.
m.
A-hu^thi, Yellow Wings,
Winnebago List.
Gens.
Animal name.
Sex.
Personal name.
Wn.
Bird.
f.
A-hu^ ki-shi'-ne win'-ke, Young-hird-
thnt-aheds- its 'first - feathers- as - it-
fiaps'its Wings Female.
Wn.
Ditto.
f.
A-hu^ ki-pa^ra win^-ke, (Bird with)
Wings Spread Female. Said of a
young bird just learning to fly.
Wn.-W.
Thunder-bird.
m.
A-hu^ man pa^-ka, He who Hits the
Ground with his Wings, Refers to
a cloud.
In giving the explanations of names, references will be made to
the myths. For example, Pasi duba. Four Peaks ^ a masculine name,
suggests incidents in several Omaha myths. In the myth of Ha-
ghi-ge, He-ga, the Buzzard, tells how he had to pass over four fiat-
topped peaks before he was taken to prescribe for the wounded water-
monsters. In the same myth, when Ha-ghi-ge was about to take
up the fourth stone to be used in the sweat-bath, he addressed the
stone thus: ** On iht four peaks, venerable man, may I come in
sight with my young ones!" In the myth of the Bear-girl the
four brothers fled with their little sister, and had passed over four
peaks before the other sister, the Bear-girl, came in sight.
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July 1890.] INDIAN PERSONAL NAMES. 265
The English-Indian list will contain all of the 3,146 names, ar-
ranged in alphabetical order. Some examples are given :
Ancestral (or HaHgd), Female, Han'-ga mi (Kansa).
Han'-ka win (Osage).
Huft'-e mi (Tciwere).
Chief y Ga-hi'-ge (Ponka and Omaha).
Ga-hin'-ge (Kansa).
Ka-hi'-ke (Osage and Tciwere).
Female Difficult to be Seen, A-ta tshe-khi mi (Tciwere).
Ha-tsha tshe-khi win-ke (Winnebago).
The writer has found no name in the first or second person, though
two names of this character appear in the census schedules. These
were probably mistakes of the recorder, or else they were given
intentionally by unscrupulous interpreters.
A study of the six lists referred to above, in connection with those
of the San tee, Sisseton and Warpeton, Yankton, and Assiniboin,
has resulted in the discovery of certain classes of names, such as
color names, iron names, whirlwind names, and the names of com-
posite beings.
Color Names, — The writer suspects that some of the color names
have a mythical or symbolic meaning. For instance, we find these
Elk names: White, Black, Spotted, Red, Scarlet, Gray, and Yel-
low. Buffalo names: Black, White (an albino), Yellow, Spotted,
and Gray. Grizzly bear names: Black, White, Brown or Dark
Gray, Gray, Red, and Scarlet. Wolf names : Black, White, Gray,
Scarlet. Thunder-bird names: Black, White, Distant-white, Yellow,
Yellowish Brown or Dark Gray, Green or Blue, and Scarlet. Eagle
names: Black, White, Spotted, Gray, •Yellow, Red, and Scarlet.
Hawk names : White, Black, Brown, Gray, and Red. The Assini-
boin have Scarlet Crane and Green Cormorant. The Winnebago
have Black, White, Green, and Yellow Snake, the last being the
rattlesnake. The Santee have Scarlet Claws, and the Yankton,
Scarlet Hoofs. Scarlet Moccasins, Scarlet Tip-end (formerly a
Santee name, Iftkpa-duta), Scarlet Iron, and Scarlet Hail. The
Santee have Scarlet Indian Carriage, Scarlet Medicine, and Scarlet
Pine. Scarlet Eyes is a Yankton name. Other Santee names are :
Scarlet Dawn, Yellow Dawn, Spotted Sun, Scarlet Night, Black
Lightning, Green Star, Scarlet Star, and Green Eggs. Yellow
Lightning is a Sisseton and Warpeton name. White-Haired Female,
Red-Haired Female, Green-Haired Female, and Yellow-Haired Fe-
34
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266 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
male point to the myth of the Badger's Son. In like manner the
masculine names corresponding to the four just given recall the myth
of the Chief's Son and the Thunderers, the latter being four old
men with large heads, one having white hair, one red, one green,
and one yellow. It is very probable that four of these colors — ^black
or red, white, green or blue, and yellow — are associated in mythology
with the four winds, as is the case among the Zufti, Navajo, and
other tribes in the southwest, and the Carolina Cherokee, according
to Mr. Mooney, of the Bureau of Ethnology. Among the Omaha,
according to Mr. Francis La Fl^he, red is the color symbolizing
the east. In "Omaha Sociology" the writer has given a sketch
of the tent of A-ga-ha-wa-shu-she, an Omaha. It will be found as
Plate XXXI in the Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology for
1882. On the tent are four parallel zigzag lines, of different colors,
evidently representing four kinds of lightning. The o\nier of the
tent was a member of the Black Bear people, who united with the
Elk people in the worship of the thunder.
Iron Names, — Maza, in Dakota; ma°zS, in Omaha, Ponka, and
Kansa ; manse, in Osage ; man the, in Tciwere, and maza-ri or mas,
in Winnebago, are now translated ** iron " or ** metal." But can
that be the true rendering in any or all of the following names ?
It is very improbable. The writer must confess his ignorance of
the archaic meaning of the term. Up to the present time he has
found the following *' Iron " names, though there may be others:
Ate oye maza, was rendered ** Father Iron Track " by the census
enumerator, under the notion that ate always means '* father;"
but there is another "ate," a synonym of **ato," to become green
or blue on, so this name mgy mean " Track Becomes Blue on it ; "
Bad Iron ; Buffalo Bull with Iron Horns ; Climbs Iron ; Comes
Home and Stands after Naming Iron; Distant-white Iron Female ;
Female who Carries Iron home ; Female who Dwells-in Iron ; Fe-
male who Jumps-on Iron ; Female who Knocks-down Iron ; Female
who Opens Iron ; Female who Sits Viewing Iron ; Female who
Smokes Iron (in a pipe) ; Four Iron Female; Good Iron Female;
Growing Iron ; Half Iron ; Her Bare Iron ; Her Good Iron Female ;
Her Iron Pipe Female ; His Iron Bow ; His Rattling Iron (His
Bell, Tamaza-hdahda) ; Iron; Iron Appears; Iron Bar; Iron
Blanket Female ; Iron Boulder ; Iron Buffalo ; Iron Cedar ; Iron
Claws ; Iron Claws Female ; Iron Cloud ; Iron Coming out in the
same place Female ; Iron Day ; Iron Dog ; Iron Door ; Iron Door
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July 1890.] INDIAN PERSONAL NAMES. 267
Female ; Iron Elk ; Iron Eyes (of an eagle) ; Iron Eyes (of an elk) ;
Iron Female ; Iron Guardian Spirit ; Iron Hawk ; Iron Hawk Fe-
male ; Iron Head ; Iron Heart ; Iron Hoop ; Iron Horn ; Iron in
the Face; Iron Is-retuming Crying-aloud ; Iron Kills-them; Iron
I^ggins; Iron Legs; Iron Lightning; Iron Lightning Female;
Iron Lodge ; Iron Lodge Female ; Iron Lying In-sight ; Iron Man
(or Iron Indian) ; Iron Mane ; Iron Nation ; Iron Necklace ; Iron
Night Female ; Iron Preparing-herself Female ; Iron Quill-feathers ;
Iron Road ; Iron Road Female ; Iron Second-son ; Iron Shield ; Iron
Shirt; Iron Star; Iron Star Female; Iron Striking-itself; Iron
Tracks or Iron Trail; Iron Tracks Female; Iron Thunderbird;
Iron Tusk ; Iron Upon-her Female ; Iron Voice ; Iron Walks Cry-
ing-aloud; Iron Whip; Iron Wind; Iron Wings; Female who
Kicks-a-hole-in Iron ; Makes Iron sound with his foot (by kicking,
jumping, etc.) ; Mazahuha naji", probably. Standing Iron Legs ;
Ma°-ze-da°, an archaic Omaha name, masculine, apparently refers to
ma^ze, now rendered, iron ; Ma°-ze wa-ji", meaning not gained, an
archaic feminine Ponka name; Female who Named Iron; Noisy
Iron ; Female who Plays with Iron ; Rattling Iron Female ; rat-
tling here is sna, not hdahda ; Returning Iron ; Revolving Iron ;
Running Iron ; Sending Iron ; Shows Iron ; Sliding Iron Female ;
Small Iron Eagle ; Small Iron Mallard ; Small Iron Wings ; Soft
(?) Iron; Spotted Iron; Standing White Iron; Sweet-Smelling
Iron Female ; Taps the Iron ; Thrown Iron Female ; Turns Iron ;
Two Iron Female ; Walks-on Iron ; Female who Walks-on Iron ;
Wings with Iron in the middle ; Woman with Iron Hair ; Yellow
Iron (brass?).
Whirlwind Names. -^Yzxi^ Whirlwind ; Gray Whirlwind ; Gray
Whirlwind Female ; Grizzly-Bear Whirlwind ; Scarlet Whirwind.
Nation or Oyate Names of the Dakota, — Female who made the
Nation ; Good Nation ; Her Mysterious Nation ; His Large Nation ;
His Nation ; Iron Nation ; Rattling Nation ; Scarlet Nation.
Tunkan or Stone- God Names of the Santee Dakota, — Beautiful
Tunkan ; Female who Hears the Tunkan ; Female who Prays-to
the Tunkan ; Female who Rattles the Tunkan ; Female who shakes
the Tunkan often; Female who Steps-on the Tunkan; Female
Stepped-on by the Tunkan ; Four-cornered Tunkan Female ; Many
Tunkan ; Moving Tunkan Female ; Mysterious Tunkan ; Plays-on
the Tunkan ; Singing Tunkan ; Tunkan Comes Rattling and Lies-
down Female ; Tunkan Man (/. ^., Tunkan Indian man) ; Tunkan
Moving-itself Female.
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268 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Thunder-being Names, — Eagle Thunder-being ; Hawk Thunder-
being; Pigeon Thunder-being; Buffalo-bull Thunder-being ; Grizzly
bear Thunder-being ; Fire Thunder-being ; Left-handed Thunder-
being ; Soldier Thunder-being ; Venerable-man Thunder-being.
Other Thunder-being names have been given among the color names.
Composite Animal Names. — Crow Dog; Grizzly-bear Eagle; Horse
Eagle ; Cloud Eagle ; Moon Hawk Female ; Buffalo-bull Eagle ;
Male-of-the-Indian-race Eagle, or Man Eagle; Venerable-man
Eagle; Thunder-being Woman.
Genealogical Tables, — The monograph will end with several gene-
alogical tables of Omaha and Ponka. In each table a few affinities
will be represented as well as consanguinities. That of the Real
Osage sub-gens of the Ponka tribe contains 191 names, extending
through seven generations. Were the writer to prepare a copy of
this genealogical table on a scale large enough for exhibition
the chart would be forty feet in length. The table illustrates
not only the subject of Indian personal names, but also the
kinship system and marriage laws of the people ; and the other
tables agree with it. For at least six generations a Ponka has been
at liberty to marry into any gens excepting those of his parents and
grandparents. It has been inferred by some students that at some
past time, if not now, the Ponka, Omaha, and their kindred tribes
were forbidden to marry into gentes, say, on the same side of the
tribal circle, or constituting a common brotherhood or phratry, and
that there was a group of gentes from which one was obliged tp
select his wife ; but the writer finds no traces of such a custom.
Among the questions suggested by this paper is one that deserves
careful investigation : Did the Dakota or Sioux ever have animal
names for their gentes ? The writer has put the question to several
white missionaries, as well as to Indians, and there has been but one
answer : *' The Dakota have no animal names for their gentes, and
no tribal or clan taboo. Each man has his personal taboo. While
some Dakota divisions are seemingly named after animal taboos,
as Those who eat no dogs, Those who eat no geese, and Those
who eat no buffalo, the members of the divisions thus named are
i4ot forbidden to eat the dog, goose, or buffalo.'* But while this is
the case at the present day, has there always been such a difference
between the Dakota tribes and the others of the same linguistic
family? Who can tell ?
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] STONE MONUMENTS. 269
STONE MONUMENTS IN NORTHWESTERN IOWA AND
SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA.
BY T. H. LEWIS.
In a paper read before the Anthropological Society of Washing-
ton, February 5, 1889, I described interesting specimens of certain
"stone monuments,'* which, from the nature of their material and
mode of construction, may be termed Bowlder Outline figures.
Last summer, having occasion to visit the valley of the Big Sioux
river and the Coteau des. Prairies, to the east of it, I met with a
number of these interesting remains of prehistoric times and made
full notes of them, of which the following is a concise account :
The Big Sioux Valley Locality. — In Lyon county, Iowa, about
one and a half miles west of Granite Station, on the north side of
the Sioux Falls Branch of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and North-
ern railroad, there is a plateau on which is a large group of mounds,
which I surveyed on July 29 and 30, 1889. Scattered among these
mounds, principally near the center of the group, are many bowlder
outlines, representing circles and ellipses.
One circle, 34 feet in diameter, has no opening, and the bowlders,
1 1 1 in number, are laid close together. A portion of the line pas§es
over the base of a mound. Less than 100 feet distant there is
another circle, 30 feet in diameter and composed of 67 bowlders.
There is a small opening on one side about one foot in width, the
bowlders marking each side of the opening being much larger than
any of the others forming the circle. The base of one of the
mounds, which is 60 feet in diameter and 5j4 feet hrgh, is sur-
rounded by a circle of small bowlders, 134 in number, without
opening. An elliptical outline, consisting of 167 bowlders, is 124
feet in length and 36 feet in width. Near by is another of still
larger dimensions, but somewhat irregular in outline.
Some circles join others, in which case at the point where they
unite there is but one line of bowlders, which completes both circles.
At one place there is a group of seven contiguous circles, all of
which are connected in this manner. Among the works is a double
circle formed by two series of bowlders, or one circle within another,
•
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270 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
both series being close together. Many of the circles are formed
of bowlders weighing from 25 to 60 pounds each, and occasionally
there is one that will weigh 100 pounds or more. There are also
several circles of small stones, which range from less than two feet
to six feet in diameter. In all instances the bowlders are imbedded
to a greater or lesser degree in the soil, some being not more than
half exposed, while only the tops of others are visible above the
surface.
Just south of the railroad track, and opposite the monuments
described, there is a large inclosure or fort of the mound-builders'
times, with low walls, the surface of which within shows every evidence
of former occupancy ; but, strange to relate, there is no evidence of
bowlder circles there. There were some circles outside, but none
inside the fort. North of the railroad, less than one mile from the
preceding locality, near the edge of a high plateau, there was for-
merly another group of bowlder outlines, many of which have been
destroyed. Noticing a few bowlders protruding above the surface
and forming the segment of a circle, I procured a pick and shovel
apd made an investigation in order to ascertain if the remainder of
the bowlders could not be accounted for, and the search was not
fruitless. I found that about three-quarters of th^ bowlders, which
formed a circle 33 feet in diameter, had sunk beneath the surface or
had been covered up by the soil, the depth of which above them
varied from one to eight inches.
The Coteau des Prairies Locality. — In the western part of
Murray county, Minnesota, there is a series of conspicuous hills,
knolls, and ridges, which are irregularly grouped, and the highest
points of which rise some 200 feet above the lowest surrounding val-
leys. That portion of these elevations lying south of the Pipestone
branch of theC, St. P., M. & O. R. R. was known to the Indians
as Buffalo Ridge, and it still retains the name. The top of this ridge
is some two miles in' length, running in a general course from north-
west to southeast through sections 16 and 21 of township 106, range
43, and finally terminating on all sides in lower spurs and terraces,
the base of the whole ridge covering perhaps three square miles.
On the highest knoll there is a series of bowlder outlines, mostly
formed of small stones. The best preserved of these figures appar-
ently represents a buffalo, as shown in the accompanying diagram.
It heads to the northeast, and its greatest length is nearly twelve
feet. The horns are nicely rounded and one of them is formed by
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] STONE MONUMENTS. 271
a double row of stones. Between the outlines of the head there is
a large bowlder, about two-thirds of which is exposed and which
fills out the head, njaking it practically solid. Between the outlines
of the body there were formerly one large and two smaller bowlders
which filled the space. The beds or matrices in which they had
lain were plainly visible when I made the survey, on August 15,
1889. These three stones had been removed by some of the settlers,
probably for building purposes. This figure can scarcely be called
an "effigy/* but it is so nearly like one that it may be considered
.o^°-^V
IN.» i Q 1 2 3 4 5 FT
Bowlder outline of a Buffalo, Murray Co., Minnesota.
a connecting link between the effigy mounds proper and the bowlder
outlines ; yet there is such a radical difference between the two
extremes that a separate classification is a necessity ; for, while the
first represents one half of an animate object in bass-relief, as it
were, and is built solidly of earth, the other is a mere outline formed
of stones or bowlders.
But a few feet distant from the ends of the Buffalo's legs there are
two lines (trails) of small stones 2^ feet asunder and running
toward what has apparently been a stone heap or cairn, which is
partially demolished. On the same knoll there are parts of three
other animals, which, judging from the traces still existing, rep-
resented different kinds, the outline of no two being exactly alike.
There were two other trails, each with double lines, one being formed
with small stones and the other by bowlders weighing from four to
Digitized by VjOOQIC
272 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
ten pounds each. There were also several small circles from one to
six feet in diameter, in a good state of preservation, while others that
had been partially demolished could still be traced. One of the
undisturbed ones was located a short distance northeast of the Buffalo,
on the slope of the knoll ; it was two feet in diameter, inside meas-
usement, and had an opening five inches in width. The largest
stone among those forming this circle was i^ inches in diameter,
while nearly all the others were still smaller. All the stones and
bowlders forming the figures on this knoll were more or less im-
bedded in the soil, showing that they were not placed there very
recently.
Toward the southeast, at the base of the ridge, about one mile
distant, I discovered some new forms in bowlder work, which may
be called " pavements." These are not large, being only from two
to five feet in diameter and composed of bowlders weighing from four
to eight pounds. Nearly all of these figureis are round, but a few are
square or nearly so, while occasionally there is one that is irregular in
outline. The top surface is as nearly even as it is possible to make
such wofk. In each pavement the bowlders are of one size, or
nearly so, and they are well bedded in the ground. There are also
a few small circles and crescents, generally formed by small stones,
and a few bowlder trails. These different figures are scattered here
and there, scarcely more than three or four being found together.
Former Notices and Critical Remarks.— In the paper referred
to, which was printed in the American Anthropologist for April,
1889, I overlooked the fact that the explorer, J. N. Nicollet, who
visited southern Minnesota in 1838, made particular mention of
such bowlder work in his report, printed in 1845.* The first refer-
ence is on page 12, as follows:
'* One mile from the Traverse des Sioux ^ and on the bank of the
river, are the remains of an Indian camp ; the circular area of which
is still indicated by the heaps of stones around each lodge. As this
indicates the existence of a custom no longer in use among the
Ndakotahs, or Sioux, who have occupied the country for a long time
back, it is difficylt to assign the true origin of this relic. The
Sissitons, the fourth tribe of the Ndakotahs, on whose lands these
relics are found, have no tradition of them.*'
* Repoit intended to illustrate a map of the Hydrographic Basin of the Upper
Mississippi River made by J. N. Nicollet, January ii, 1845. Washington, 1845.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] STONE MONUMENTS. 273
Two pages further on, speaking of the evidence to be found of
the ** erratic deposite " in the shape of fragments of primitive and
transition rocks scattered over the Coteau, he says :
" The Sioux take advantage of these loose materials to erect sig-
nals on the most elevated spots, or to designate the place by some
conical structure, where some exhausted hunter has died on the
prairies, and desires to be buried in a more prominent situation ;
or they amuse themselves in shaping them into fantastic figures.
They give names to these localities, which thus serve as landmarks
in a country where there are no other geographical beacons."
Again, on the same page, having described a wi-wi, or swamp,
situated somewhere between the heads of the tchan na tam-be or
hidden wood and Okshida creeks, he uses the following words:
*' Lastly, by way of illustration to what I have said above of the
usages of the Sioux, I may add, that, on the western side of the
aforesaid wi-wiy and on the most elevated crest of the Coteau,
there is a great accumulation of the materials belonging to the er-
ratic deposite, of which they have availed themselves to construct the
effigy of a man ; so that the spot is called tuyan-witchashta-karapi ;
in English, the place where has been built up a man of stone."
On his large map, published in 1842, this particluar figure appears
marked in the locality described, and is designated ** Stone Man."
Nicollet does not say that he saw it himself, and his map shows no
track to it but iYidicates a route passing more directly westward from
Shetek Lake by the Great Oasis, now Bear Lakes, to the Red
Pipestone Quarry. He must have been a little too hasty in forming
his opinion when he so readily considered "bowlder outlines" to
be the work of the Sioux Indians, especially as it may be seen that
he held the stone circles at Traverse des Sioux to be much more
ancient than the Sioux occupancy of that country.
George Catlin, the painter, had previously visited the Quarry, in
1836, and he apparenty saw this effigy on his return thence east-
ward ; for in his "letter" he declares his intention of seeing the
"Stone man medicine," but there is no further reference to it in
the book. It may be remarked here that the name he calls it by
does not favor the idea that the Sioux gave him to understand that
their people had made this monument.
Now, it was this Stone Man that I was most anxious to find last
August, but the search was unsuccessful. The probabilities are that
it, or rather the bowlders composing it, has been carried off by
35
Digitized by VjOOQIC
274 THE AMBBICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
settlers of the neighborhood, wherever that was. There is no doubt
that it was in existence until within a comparatively recent date ;
for a reliable man, a Mr. Casey, who was connected with the U. S.
mail service, told me that he had seen it, and that it was situated
somewhere on Buffalo Ridge near the Buffalo.*
There can be no doubt that the Indians used bowlders and stones
to hoU down the edges of their tents or tepees; and it may be
further added that the whites have used bowlders for the same pur-
pose. But the remains of the old Indian camps are not to be taken
into consideration in this connection for the following reason:
While bowlders have thus undoubtedly been utilized by the Indians,
and while they may have formed, in cases, almost a perfect circle
when in use, yet on the removal of the tent they would naturally be
pushed or thrown to one side, thus destroying the symmetry of the
circle. I have seen many Indian camping places where bowlders
have been used, but have failed to note a single instance where a
regular circle of stones has been left on their abandonment. If
the tepee theory be admitted in explanation of the larger circles,
how explain the very small ones, in which even 2, papoose would find
it difficult to stretch himself at full length ?
There is yet need of a great deal of light on the subject of Bowl-
der outlines.
SL Paul, Minnesota, May 14, i8po.
Mutilation of the Teeth Among the Wanyamurzi. — Accord-
ing to Paul Richard (^Zeitschrifi der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde, Ber-
lin, Vol. 24, p. 256) the Wanyamurzi of Central Africa for a tribal
mark break off the inner corner of each of the middle upper incisors.
These corners are not filed off, as is usually reported, but split off
chip by chip by laying a little iron chisel, the length of the finger,
against the tooth and striking it with a little stick. The operation
must be very painful, as extremely violent headaches in the back of
the head result from it. John Murdoch.
* In the winter of 1854-5 a young man by the name of Northrop, who had
lived in the tents of the Dakotas more or less, told a friend of mine (Mr. A. J.
H.) about a stone work he had seen on the western prairies, which was shaped
like a man. This was most probably the Stone Man of Catlin, Nicollet, and Mr.
Casey.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.]
ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
275
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dians of Puget Sound. Am. Antiqua-
rian, Mendon, 111., 1890, xii, 69-84. —
XSinhorn (M.) Die Rumination beim
Menschen. Med. Monatschr., N. Y.,
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indwelling spirits of men. Pop. Sc.
Month., N. Y., 1889-90, xxxvi, 794-
801. — Bmerson (A) Recent progress
in classical archaeology. Tenth An.
Rep. Archaeol. Inst. America, Cam-
bridge, 1889, 47-94. — Ernst (A.)
Mittheilung iiber Petroglyphen aus
Venezuela. Verhandl. d. Berl. Ge-
sellsch. f. Anthrop., Berl., 1889, 650-
655.— Pawcett (F.) On the Berulu
Kodo, a sub-sect of the Moras Voka-
ligarn of the Mysore Province. J. An-
throp. Soc. Bombay, 1886-9, i, 449-
474, I pi. — Ferree (B.) Climatic in-
fluences in primitive architecture. Am.
Anthrop., Wash., 1890, iii, 147-158. —
Fewkes (J. W.) On the use of the
phonograph in the study of the lan-
guages of American Indians. Science,
N. Y., 1890, XV, 267-269.— Fraser
(J.) The numerals in the Etruscan
language. Rep. Australas. Ass. Adv.
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ancients. Folk-lore, Lond., 1890, i,
145-171. — Galton (F.) Criminal
anthropology. The criminal, by Have-
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Scott, 1890.) [Rev.] Nature, Lond.,
1890, xlii, 75. — Qamba. II cranio
del generale Ramorino. Gior. d.
r. Accad. di med. di Torino, 1889,
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(C.) Sur le cerveau d'un chimpanz6.
[Transl. from : Atti d. r. Accad. d. sc.
di Torino, 1888-9, xxiv.l Arch. ital.
de biol., Turin, 1890, xiii, 25. — Oig-
lioli (E. H.) Alcune notizie intomo
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trop., Firenze, 1889, xiv, 441-447. —
Oitt6e(A.) Kinderspelen. Hetspel
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\jt pavilion de I'oreille au point de vue
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Ricerche antropologiche sul
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Digitized by VjOOQIC
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ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
279
as to triplets. Ibid,, 541.— Griin-
wedeL Riograndenser AlterthUmer.
Verhandl. d. Berl. Gesellsch. f. An-
throp., Berl., 1890, 31-37.— Oun-
thorpe (E. J.) Note on the Bhonde
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The ethnography of the western tribe of
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Legends from Torres Straits. Folk-
lore, Lond.,i890,i,47-8i; 172-197.—
Hamilton (G. ) Notice of additional
groups of carvings of cups and circles on
rock surfaces at High Banks, Kirkcud-
brightshire. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot-
land, Edinb., 1889, xxiii, 1 25-130. —
Hammeran (A.) Htigelgrftber bei
Frankfurt a. M. Arch. f. Anthrop.,
Bmschwg., 1890, xix, 85-99, 3 P^* —
Hansemann (D. ) Ueber Polymastie.
Verhandl. d. Berl. Gesellsch. f. An-
throp., Berl., 1889,434-443. — de Har-
lez (C.) La perception des couleurs
chez les peuples de Textrfime Orient et
Thistoire du sens visuel. Le Mus^on,
Par., 1890, ix, 242-249. — Hartland
(E, S.) Peeping Tom and Lady
Godiva. Folk-lore, Lond., 1890, i,
207-226.— Harvey (J.) Notes on
some undescribed cup-marked rocks at
Duntocher, Dumbartonshire. Proc.
Soc. Antiq. Scotland, Edinb., 1889,
xxiii, 130-137.— Hay DOS (H. W.)
Recent progress in American archae-
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Inst. America, Cambridge, 1889, 95-
105.— Hoffman (W. J.) Remarks on
Ojibway ball play. Am. Anthrop.,
Wash., 1890, iii, 133-135.— Holmes
(W. II.) On the evolution of orna-
ment — an American lesson. Ibid,, 137-
146.— Hough (W.) Notes on the
archeology and ethnology of Easter
Wand. Am. Naturalist, Phila., 1889,
xxiii, 877-888.— House. Recherches
sur I'indice nasal; I'indice nasal des
Flamands et des Wallons. Bull. Soc.
d'anlhrop. de Brux., 1888-9, vii, 177-
205.— Httrd (Kate C.) On anthro-
pometry. Times & Reg., N. Y. &
Phila., 1890, vii, 506-511.— Hutch-
inson (J. ) An account of the skele-
ton of the Norwich dwarf. Tr. Path.
Soc. Lond., 1888-9, xl, 229-235, 3
pi.— Huxley (T. li.) On the natural
inequality of men. Pop. Sc. Month.,
N. Y., 1889-90, xxxvi, 761-784.
Government : Anarchy or regi-
mentation. Nineteenth Cent., Lond.,
1890, xxvii, 843-866.— Israel (O.)
Angeborne Spallen des Ohrlippchens,
Ein Beitrag zur Vererbungslehrc. Arch,
f. path. Anat., etc., Berl., 1890, cxix.
241-253. — Jacobson (J. A.) Bella-
Coola Sagen. Ausland, Stuttgart, 1890,
352-354. Geheimblinde der
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290-293. — Jentsch(H.) Provinzial-
rdmische und andere vorgeschichtliche
Funde in der Niederlausitz. Verhandl.
d. Berl. Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., Berl.,
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Mehrere Mittheilungen, betreffend Au-
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?H.) Jeunes criminels parisiens. Arch.
deTanthrop. crim.. Par., 1890, v, 147-
174.— Joshi (P. B.) On the Gond-
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377. — ten Kate (H.). Ethno-
graphische und anthropologische Mit-
theilungen aus dem amerikanischen
SUdwesten und aus Mexico. Ver-
handl. d. Berl. Gesellsch. f. An-
throp., Berl., 1889,664-668.— Krausa
(F. S.) Die QualgeUter bei den Sfld-
slaven. Ausland, Stuttgart, 1890, 329-
333. — Lamb (D. S.) The olecranon
perforation. Am. Anthrop., Wash.,
1890, iii, 159-174. — Levi (C. A.)
Nuove suppellettili archeologiche pro-
vinciali. Atti r. 1st. Veneto di sc, lett.
ed«arti., 1888-9, 6. s., vii, 447-457.
2 pi. Illustrazione di alcuni
bronzi antichi. Ibid., 785-796, 3 pi. —
Le Villenoisy (F.) D'une erreur
arch^ologique relative aux bronzes
anciens. Revue ArchaK)l., Par., 1890,
3. s., XV, 248-253.— Lloyd (W.) The
religion of the Semites. Westminst.
Rev., Lond., i890,cxxxiii, 375-383 —
Lombroso (C.) Palimsesti del
carcere. Arch, di psichiat. , etc., Torino,
1889, X, 557-576. — Rughe
anomale speciali ai criminali. Ibid,,
1890, xi, 96. — — Homo delinquens.
[Transl. from the Italian.] Wien
med. Bl., 1890, xiii, 87; 103; 119. —
Lombroso (C) e R. Laschi. Rei
politici per occasione e per passione.
Arch, di psichiat, etc., Torino, 1890,
xi> 34-55i I pl* — Maodonald (J.)
Coutumes et croyances des tribus de
I'Afrique australe. Rev. scient.. Par.,
1890, xlv, 641-648. Manners,
Digitized by VjOOQIC
280
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
customs, superstitions, and religions of
South African tribes. J. Anthrop.
Inst., Lond., 1889-90, xix, 264-297. —
Manonvrler. Esistono dei carattcri
anatomici propriai criminali? I crira-
inali presentano almeno certi caratteri
anatomici particolari ? Come si de-
vono interpretare questi caratteri?
[Rapp., transl. from the French].
Anomalo, Napoli, 1889, i, 294-301. —
Mantegazza (P.) L'ereditii delle
lesioni traumatiche e dei caratteri ac-
quisiti dall'individuo. Arch, per Tan-
trop., Firenze, 1889, xix, 391-405.
La lingua universale. Ibid.^
407-417. — Marks for physical efli>
ciency. Brit. M. J., Lond., 1890. i,
793. — Matro (A.) Sui caratteri della
dunna criminale. Arch, di psichiat.,
etc., Torino, 1889, x, 576-580. —
Maska. Ueber die Gleichzeitigkeit
des Mammuths mit dem diluvialen
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F., ix [82-89].— Maxwell (H. E.)
Primitive implements, weapons, orna-
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shire. * Proc. Soc. Anliq. Scotland,
Edinb., 1889, xxiii, 200-232. — Meade
(M. J.) On the Moghiahs or B&oris
of Rajput&n& and Central India. J.
Anthrop. .Soc, Bombay, 1886-9, i,
274-288.— Meyer (A. G.) Unter-
suchungen Uber das s&chsische Haus
im Kreise Greifenberg, Hinterpom-
mem. Verhandl. d. Berl. Gesellsph.
f. Anthrop., Berl., 1889, 614-625. — .
Miller (H.) Notice of the dis-
covery of a hoard of silver penan-
nular armlets and coins at Tarbat,
Ross-Shire. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot-
land, Edinb., 1889, xxii, 314-317. —
Miller (P.) Notices of the standing
stones of Alloa and Clackmanan.
y^/V.,153-164.— Modi (J.J.) Omens
among the Parsees. J. Anthrop. Soc.
Bombay, 1888, i, 289-295.
On a Persian coffin said to be 3,000
years old, sent to the Museum of the
Society by Mr. Malcolm, of Bushire.
//J«V.. 426-441.— M[ont] (P. d[e]).
Onze Vlaamsche ** Componisten *' ofte
Liedjeszangers. Volkskunde, Gent, 3®
Jaarg. 1890,25-39.— Men t^lins (O.)
L'&ge du bronze en fegyptc. Anthro-
pologic, Par., 1890, i, 27-48, 6 pi.
Verbindungen zwischen Skan-
dinavicn und dem westlichen Europa
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21.— Mooney (J.) The Cherokee
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From brute to man. Am. Naturalist,
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Arch, di psichiat., etc., Torino, 1890,
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historic cemetery of FrOgg, at Rosegg,
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Nicolncci (G.) Anomalie e de-
formazioni artiticiali del cranio. Anom-
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(T. F.) Morris dance at Revesby.
Folk-Lore J., Lond., 1890, vii, 331-
356. — Ottolenghi (S.) II man-
cinismo anatomico nei cnminali.
[Abstr.] Arch, di psichiat., etc.,
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Essai de localisation des habitants pr6-
colombiens de TAm^rique Centrale.
Internat. Arch. f. Ethnog., Leiden,
1890, iii, 31-33.— Peet (S.D.) The
CI iff- Dwellers and their works. Am.
Antiquarian, Mendon, 111., 1890, xii,
85-104. The "Sacred En-
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Periostitis and atrophy of ancient
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i, 404. — Ponchon. Les m^galithes
de la Somme. Bull. Soc. d'anthrop.
de Par., 1889, 3. s., xii, 556-567. —
Powell (F. Y.) Recent research
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Lond., 1890, i, 1 1 8- 1 26.— Pratt (G.)
The genealogy of the sun, a Samoan
legend. Rep. Australas. Ass. Adv.
Sc, [1889,] i. 447-463.— Proal (L.)
La responsabilit6 morale des ciiminels.
Rev. phil., Par., 1890, xxix, 384-
398. — Quedenfeldt (M.) Ueber
die Corporationen der U16d Ssldi
Hammed-u-Mflssa und der Ormft im
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Berl. Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., Berl.,
1 889, 572-586.— Racy maekers ( D . )
Note sur le " Dolmen " de Duysbourg,
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throp. de Brux., 1888-9, vii, 270-281.
— Raghnnathjee (K.) On the Pitars
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1880.]
ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE.
281
or T&nks. J. Anthrop. Soc. Bombay,
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hOhere und niedrigere Stellung der
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Mitth. d. anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien,
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(E.) Sul museo deH'imperatore Au-
gusto. Arch, per I'antrop., Firenze,
1889, xix, 449-466. — Regis (E.)
Les regicides dans I'histoire et dans le
present ; 6tude midico-psychologique.
Arch, de Tanthrop. crim., Par., 1890, v,
5-34. /4/so,Re\mnt. — Rehat8ek(E.)
Veneration of the dead in China. J.
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328. On a descriptive alpha-
betical list of twenty occult sciences of
the Muslims, /did. , 41 5-424. — Reiss
(W.) Ueber Funde aus der Steinzeit
Aegyptens. Verhandl. d. Berl. Ge-
sellsch. f. Anthrop., Berl., 1889, 702-
713. 2 pi.— Rink (H.) On a safe
conclusion concerning the origin of the
Eskimo, which can be drawn from the
designation of certain objects in their
language. J. Anthrop. Inst., Lond.,
1890, xix. 452-458.— Rlsloy (H. H.j
The race basis of Indian political move-
ments. Contemp. Rev., Lond., 1890,
Ivii, 742-759. On anthropol-
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bay, 1886-9, i, 343-352.— Ritchie
(D. G.) Natural selection and the
spiritual world. Westminst. Rev.,
Lond., 1890, cxxxiii, 459-469. — Ro-
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Nineteenth Cent, Lond., 1890, xxvii,
823-832. Weissmann's theory
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1890. Ivii, 686-699. — Rossi (G.) e
8. Ottolenghi. Tipi di criminali
nati. Arch, di psichiat., etc., Torino,
1890, xi, 91-93. — Schadenberg.
Beitrkge zur Kenntniss der im Innern
Nordluzons lebenden StSjume. Ver-
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throp., Berl., 1889, 674-700, I pi. —
Sohmeitz (J. D. £.) Ueber einen
heiligen Krug von Borneo. Intemat.
Arch. f. Ethnog., Leiden, 1890, iii, 29-
31.— Sibley (W. K.) Left-legged-
ness. Nineteenth Cent., Lond., 1890,
xxvii, 773-778.— Skertchly (S. B.
J.) On fire-making in North Borneo.
J. Anthrop. Inst., Lond., 1890, xix,
445-452, I pi.— Starr (F.) Perfo-
rated skulls from Michigan. Am.
Antiquarian, Mendon,. 111., 1890, xii,
36
165.— Talbot (E. S.) Statistics of
constitutional and developmental irreg-
ularities of the jaws and teeth of nor-
mal, idiotic, deaf and dumb, blind, and
insane persons. J. Am. M. Ass., Chi-
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jaws and teeth of a party of cave- and
cliflf- dwellers. Dental Cosmos, Phila.,
1890, xxxii, 357-364. — Tantain.
Contribution k I'itude de la langue.
Foule (Poular). Rev. de linguistique,
Paris, 1890, xxiii, 1 18-147.— Taverni
(R.) et Magnan. L'infanziadei crim-
inali nei suoi rapporti con la predispo-
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Anomalo, Napoli, 1889, i, 361-368;
1890, ii, 3-12.— Tenchini(L.) Sulle
variety numeriche vertebro-costali neir
uomo. Ateneo med. parmense, Parma,
1889, iii, 179-210. — Thomas (C.)
The Cherokees in pre-Columbian times.
Science, N. Y., 1890, xv, 295-300.—
Thompson (A. H.) The expres-
sional services performed by the face.
Dental Cosmos, Phila., 1890, xxxii, 85;
169. — Thomson (A.) The orbito-
maxillary frontal suture in man and
the apes, with notes on the varieties of
the human lachrymal bone. J. Anat.
& Physiol., Lond., 1889-90, xxiv, 349-
357. — Topinard ( P. ) Les Angolais.
Bull. Soc. de mid. prat, de l*ar., 1890,
1 14-120. Essais de cranio-
m6lrie k propos du crine de Charlotte
Corday. Anthropologie, Par.. 1890, i,
1-26. — Toscani (L.) Sulle apofisi
clinoidee medie del cranio umano.
Ateneo med. parmense, Parma, 1889,
iii, 288-315. — Treichel. Prihisto-
rische Fundstellen in den Kreisen Be-
rent, Pr.-Stargardt, Carthaus und Neu-
stadt. Verhandl. d. Berl. Gesellsch.
f. Anthrop:, Berl., 1889, 752-757.—
Tromp (S. W.) De Weeding eener
dajaksche vrouw. Internal. Arch. f.
Ethnog., Leiden, 1890, iii, 1-7, 1 pi. —
Tronessart (E.) Le cheval sauvage
de la Dzoungarie. Nature, Paris, 1890,
xviii, 369-371. — Turner (S. S.) In-
dian medicine. Med. News, Phila.,
1890, Ivi, 323.— Turner {Sir W.)
Human neck with the odontoid process
distinct from the body of the axis ver-
tebra. J. Anat. & Physiol., Lond.,
1889-90, xxiv, 358.— Tylor (E. B.)
.Sopra un metodo per investigare lo
sviluppo delle istituzioni sociali, appli-
cato alle leggi del matrimonio e della
Digitized by VjOOQIC
282
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
discendenza. [Transl. from : J. An-
throp. Inst., Lond., 1888-9, xviii.]
Arch, per Tantrop., Firenze, 1889, xix,
467-494. — XTndset (I.) Archftolo-
gische Aufsfttze Qber sttdcuropftische
Fundstttcke. Ztschr. f. Ethnol., Berl.,
1889, xxi, 205-234. — VanviU^ (O.)
Quelques ateliers et stations pr^hi^-
toriques du d^partement de Seine-et-
Oisc. Bull. Soc. d'anthrop. dc Par.,
1889.3. s..xii, 532-541. Tran-
chets et fldches pr^historiques du d6-
partement de TAisne. /Jm'., 628-638.
— Virchow (R.) Die Anthropologic
in den letzten 20 Jahren. Mitth. d.
anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien, 1889,
n. F., ix. [57-68.] — Crania
americana ethnica. /^jV/., [138-140.]
Grab des Langobardenherzogs
Gisulf in Cividale. Vcrhandl. d. Berl.
Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., Berl., 1889,
374-382: — Beitrftge zur Cranio-
logie der Insulaner von der Wesl-
kiiste Nordaroerikas. /(J«</., 382-403.
Menschliche Gebeine und
Steinsachen aus angeblich diluvialen
Schichten bei Aussig, Bdhmen. Ibid.,
404-410. [Zwei junge Bursche
von Kamenin und Togo. J Ibid., 541-
545. [Dinka-Neger.] Ibid.,
545-551. [Schadel vom Cis-
lauer liradek.l Ibid., 593-595.
[Ueberdie beiden Schftdel von
Wetter und Halemaheira.l Ibid.,
669-673. Photograpnien eines
Wci-Knaben. Ibid.,*l(yArl^'
Das vom Stabsarzt Dr. L. Wolf hinter-
las.sene anthropologische Material.
Ibid., 766-784, I pi. Photo-
graphien eines Negerknaben von
Ukussu, W. vom Lualaba. Ibid.^ 784.
Neue prfthistorische Funde von
Tttrmitz, Herbiu und Wicklitz, bei
Aussig. Ibid., 786-793. — Visite des
campements indigenes & I'Esplanade
des Invalides. Asie; Afrique; Ocianie.
Bull. Soc. de m6d. prat, de Par., 1890,
370-416. — Waldeyer. Menschen-
und Affen-Placcnta. Mitth. d. an-
throp. Gesellsch. in Wien, 1889, n.
F., ix, [142].— Warner (F.) Form
•of ear as a sign of defective develop-
ment. Lancet, Lond., 1890, i, 344. —
WeipertfH.) Japanisches Familien-
und Erbrecht. Mitth. d. deutsch. Ge-
sellsch. f. Nat.-u. V5lkerk. Ostasiens,
Yokahama, 1 889-90, v, 83-140. —
Weiabach (A.) Lftnge und Breite
des Kopfes und Schftdels. Mitth. d.
anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien, 1889, n.
F., ix, [198-200].— White (A. D.)
The antiquity of man and Egyptology.
Pop. Sc. Month., N. Y., 1890, xxxvii,
145-156.— Wilder (B. G.) Does
the poma (occipital operculum) occur
in the human brain ? Med. Rec.,
N. Y., 1890, xxxvii, 255. — Wynd-
ham (W. T.) The aborigines of
Australia. J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. N.
South Wales, Sydney, 1889, xxiii, 36-
42. — Zanardelli. L'origine du Ian-
gage expliqu6e par une nouvelle th^orie
de Pinteijection. Bull. Soc. d'anthrop.
de Brux., 1888-9, vii, 221-241.— Zoja
(G.) Intorno al mucrone dell* angolo
della mandibola del Sandifort (apoHsi
lemurinica dell' Albrecht). R. 1st.
Lomb. di sc. e lett. Rendic, Milano,
1888, 2. s., xxi, 790-794, I pi.— Zol-
ler (H.) Untersuchungen ttber 24
Sprachen aus dem Schutzgebiet der
Neuguinea-^'ompagnie. Petermann's
Mittheil., 1890, xxxvi, 122-128.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 283
BOOK NOTICES.
Social History of the Races of Mankind, JTiird Division : Aoneo-
Maranonians, By A, Featherman, London^ TrUbner &* Co,y
i88Qi 8vo.,pp. xxiii—480.
This is the latest general treatise on the North American Indians,
and in some respects the most pretentious one yet published. The
surprising title is composed from a flimsy theory and a euphemized
myth. The theory is that all the tribes of the two western conti-
nents came from the valley of the Amazon, one of the names of one
part of that river being literated as Maranon. The myth, never
known in any shape but to a few tribes, is applied to the northern
continent by modernization in significance and by violent euphonic
changes in expression. So we are requested to use Maranon for
all the aborigines of America, and Aoneo for their northern grand
division. This is a step beyond Schoolcraft, though in the same
direction of imaginary connection and of the manufacture of names
by piecing together fragments of words selected from unrelated lan-
guages. But Schoolcraft, instead of baptizing the race of the
** whole boundless continent,*Mimited himself to the invention of
grand-divisional names for the tribes of North America. He called
those of the eastern coast, Algic ; those west of the Mississippi,
Abanic, and the intermediate, Ostic. This was all very pretty ;
but the coinages of names without recognized etymology and
without true definition or substantial authority did not succeed, and
perhaps not a dozen persons in the world now recall Schoolcraft's
well-intended effort. Dr. Featherman's still more ambitious essay
may share the same fate unless it shall be remembered through the
ridicule that it occasions.
That author investigated the anthropology of America by spend-
ing many months in the Library of Congress at Washington, during
which time he read and excerpted much matter from the immense
mass of useless ''Americana.*' The absurd title of the book is a
sample of its entire contents. It contains no real philosophy or
study, but presents a melancholy lesson, showing the result where an
honest and industrious but rather dull man writes on a subject about
which he is wholly ignorant. Whatever he saw on library shelves, in
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284 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
print or in manuscript, "was of equal value, and he mixed all together
quod lib, Bancroft, in his '* Native Races of the Pacific Coast,'* did
nearly as badly, but with the difference that he gave bibliographic
. reference to volume and page. If he said of the tribe, e. g. X, that the
people were dark, of low stature, cruel, and of small number, and in
the same paragraph said of the same tribe that the i)eople were light
in color, tall, gentle, and numerous, he at least gave the authorities
with precision, so that the reader might have some means of choice.
But Dr. Featherman does not give this option. He copies indis-
criminately the utterly futile and accidental impressions of voyagers
or essayists. Many travelers* tales, intended to be true, are col-
ored by the weather or by digestion, by the accidents of march and by
the personal character of men and women with whom there hapi^ened
to be contact. Therefore the accounts about the same peoples at
the same time are often diametrically opposite. The anthropologic
surface only is skimmed without study of its depths. Our author,
however, selects all the skimmings that chance to please his taste
and mixes the result in a farrago without authenticating any of its
ingredients by any specific label.
Dr. Featherman was unfortunate in ending his researches before
the appearance of the later and more scientific publications on his
subject. He stopped his studies and went home across the Atlantic
to write. During the last two years, however, he must have in-
formed himself, to some extent at least, in respect to the latest
aspects of the topics treated, as he has added a number of foot-notes
to his text, and has also injected matter into his preface, which is
in Roman pagination and of course was last written, in which ideas
appear that are not in accord with the general contents. It is a
pity that he had not revised his whole work instead of continuing
to reproduce the antiquated authorities with occasional qualifications.
Those authorities are, however, not useless in proper hands. But
trained students must weigh them and interpret their meaning, which
our explorer of the Library of Congress was not able to do.
The author shows no understanding of the only possible classifica-
tion of the American tribes, viz., that by linguistic stocks and their
dialects, and has no knowledge of the priscan habitat and subse-
quent migrations of those tribes. He took names of tribes in
all kinds of shaj^es, French and Dutch and English, and misprinted
forms of mistaken aboriginal sounds, and mixed them together with-
out scientific or logical method, so that the several divisions of a
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] BOOK NOTtdfe:*^ '^'^ . ^ ^ ^^^
Stock, known to every student as such, api)eaFilTiikJi! some alias, sepa-
rated by pages and chapters from their congeners, who also appear
under an alias. Substantially the same remarks about marriage, mort-
uary rites — in fact, the whole catalogue of customs — are repeated
over and over without discrimination, or are changed without reason.
The salt and pepper and the oil and the mustard are cast into the
attempted salad but are not amalgamated, and there is no good egg in
the dressing. No new or useful idea can be gleaned from these five
hundred pages, but on the contrary there are many more reproduced
or original errors than pages. This would be of more serious con-
sequence if the general arrangement and presentation of the volume
were not so repulsive and the cost so considerable as to insure that
its readers will be few and their indoctrination slight.
The North American Indians are in themselves of little historical
importance, but the study of their customs and religions is of the
greatest importance in illustrating the stages and phases by which
mankind has advanced toward and into civilization. All concern-
ing them should, therefore, be stated with elaborate care as a basis
for the most useful chapter that can now be written in the general
theme of the author's series of volumes, viz., the Social History of
the Races of Mankind. But as presented in the present volume the
Aoneo-Maranonians, who by any other name would smell as sweet,
have never existed. The study of the Flying Islanders of Peter
Wilkins would be a work of as great scientific value as that before
us. Indeed, the story of Wilkins would be of greater use, because
imagination that succeeds in verisimilitude is nearly as good as facts ;
but Dr. Featherman appears to possess neither accuracy nor imagi-
nation.
Garrick Mallery.
Vie Forschungsreise S, M, S. " Gazelle '* in den Jahren 1874 bis
1876 unter Kommando des Kapitdn ztir See Freiherm von
SchleinitZy herausgegeben von dent Hydrographischen Ami des
ReichS'Marinc'Avits. /. TheiL Der ReiseberichL Mil 58 Tafeln.
Berlin, i88g.
The German exploring expedition in the ship Gazelle, which
went to Kerguelen Island to observe the transit of Venus in 1874,
crossed, during its voyage of nearly two years, more than 100 de-
grees of latitude, accomplished the circumnavigation of the globe,
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286 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
and landed on many shores. It was equipped with a corps of learned
investigators, whose observations included a wide range in science.
It is only in the ethnography and anthropology in general that
we are now interested. These subjects are included in the first part
of the report and occupy about 60 of the 317 quarto pages which
constitute the volume. The periods of sojourn on inhabited shores
were usually brief; the natives encountered were often timid, dis-
trustful, or inimical — sometimes they fled at sight of the Europeans
and could with difficulty be induced to approach the latter.
Under such circumstances the opportunities for study were neces-
sarily very limited, and the observers are to be congtatulated on
having obtained even as much information as they here present to us.
The subjects mostly touched on are the i)hysical and moral char-
acters of the people, their external appearance, houses, boats,
domestic animals, food, employments, dress, weapons, tools, and
ornaments. There are some valuable observations on their social
condition and religion. The natives of MacCluer Gulf, New Gui-
nea, we are told, profess Mohammedanism, yet the explorers did not
fail to observe abundant evidence of the survival of an earlier cult
among them. In other places, as New Mecklenburg and New
Hannover, grotesque masks and images were collected which prob-
ably pertained to religious ceremonials.
A village was visited in MacCluer Gulf where all arrows and
spears were pointed with wood or bone, and no weapons of iron
were seen. In New Mecklenburg i[New Ireland) and New Pom-
erania (New Britain) people were visited who still made fire by
rubbing two sticks together.
Anthropology is better represented in the illustrations than in the
text ; 26 full-page lithographic pictures (some colored) out of the
58 plates which embellish the work are devoted to it. They depict
groups of men, individuals, dwellings, anomalous crania, weapons,
images, and other articles. Washington Matthews.
The Oregon Trade Language or ** Chinook Jargon,'' by Horatio
Hale, M, A., R7i, S. C, London : Whit faker 6- Co., i8go.
Just now, when so much attention is paid to the invention of in-
ternational languages, the above little book by Mr. Hale will prove
a welcome addition to the general knowledge and literature of the
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 287
subject. The Chinook Jargon is an apt illustration of the old adage
** necessity is the mother of invention." It was not only invented,
if the term is admissible, to supply a want, but has fully answered
its purpose and has had a career which is much more than history
is likely to record of some later linguistic aspirants for fame.
The Chinook Trade Jargon is not the only example of its kind.
Pigeon English, as it is called, has served a similar purpose in China
and to a less extent in western America, as also did the Lingua
Franca of the Mediterranean.
Long before the days of the advent of the European upon its
banks, the Columbia river formed a sort of highway for aboriginal
trade. The Chinooks held all the lower course of the river from
the Dalles to the mouth, including its best fishery shores, and to
the Dalles every year resorted the interior tribes to fish, to gamble,
and to trade. The tribes thus visiting the banks of the river
spoke many languages and dialects, which represented a number of
distinct linguistic families. These tribes, though differing less in
habits than in language, still offered many peculiarities. Through
their yearly gatherings on the territory of the Chinooks the interior
tribes all doubtless acquired a smattering of their language ; but the
Chinook, or better the *' Trade Jargon,'* which, as Mr. Hale shows,
became a thoroughly international language, owes its existence to a
later period and to the necessities and influence of the European fur-
trader. As in early times the neighborhood of Nootka Sound formed
the rendezvous for the trading ships, the language spoken here came
to be more or less employed by the traders. Later, trading ships
entered the Columbia, and Astoria became the head center of the
fur trade, and it was natural that when an inter-tribal speech became
necessary, the Chinook tongue should form its basis, both because
the Chinook was the language most familiar to the Europeans and
because it was probably better understood by neighboring tribes
than any other.
Thus we find, according to Mr. Hale's analysis, that the Trade
Jargon is composed of in Chinook words, 18 Nootka, 41 English,
and 34 French. In addition, 10 words were formed by onomato-
poeia and about 38 are doubtful. The resulting 252 words consti-
tute a very small vocabulary, one would think, for the purposes
intended ; but no phenomenon of speech is more remarkable than
the small number of words that can be made to suffice for every-day
topics. The vocabulary thus formed and added to as time went on
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288 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. IH.
was provided with a few simple grammatic rules, and the hybrid
language thus curiously constituted was ready to play its part in the
drama of trade and colonization.
Its usefulness has been very great. For nearly a hundred years
it has sufficed for all the exigencies of European trade with the
natives and for an inter-tribal communication which has extended
far beyond the center where the Jargon originated. It has served as
the means of conversion to at least a nominal Christianity of a large
number of the Indians of this region, and still it maintains its use-
fulness and is likely to do so for a long period to come.
The author of the present volume, who was the first to bring the
Trade Jargon to scientific notice, presents a succinct account of its
origin and history, gives its rules of grammar, furnishes specimens
of hymns and sermons by missionaries, and adds a Trade-English
and English-Trade vocabulary. We thus have what amounts to a
complete treatise of this interesting speech, sufficient for the needs
of the missionary and traveler as well as for the student of language
in its broader aspects. H. W. Henshaw.
Dr, Friedrich S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religibser Branch der
Sudslaven, Vorwiegend nach eigmen Ermittlungen, MiinsUr
{Westphalia)^ i8go. Aschendorffy publisher, 8vo., pp, xviy 176,
This book upon the religious ideas of the Southern Slavs is pre-
eminently of a critical nature, and criticism is never so well applied
as when the history of religions, whether monotheistic or polytheis-
tic, is to be investigated. The well-known author is a Jewish scien-
tist of the most advanced type, and his long investigations of the
Slavic folk-lore failed to bring him into accord with the ideas regard-
ing the Slavic deities as set forth by his fellow -authors on the same
subject. He states in the preface that the hypothesis of a primeval
Slavic nation, speaking only one language and possessed of om re.
ligious beliefs is ^solutely untenable and has brought confusion and
discredit upon ethnologic science. In the opinion of our author,
many incontestable facts which have come to light forbid us to
assume for the present Slavic nations physical descent from a single
people, who must be supposed upon this theory to have subsequently
differentiated into dialectic groups. It would be far easier to prove
the existence of a European -Asiatic primitive religion than of a
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] BOOK NOTICES. 289
primitive religion of the Slavs, or of the Germans or Finns. The
ancient epoch of Slavic belief, so replete with idealistic divine
worship and with the odor of the most innocent and lamb-like purity
of mind, which is said to have been destroyed by the influence of
the Germans and of Christianity, never existed. It was merely the
elucubration of some excited and patriotic mythologists of the
Russian, Bohemian, and South Slavic '* persuasion.*'
In conformity with these principles and others of like tendency,
the author's method is entirely inductive. He starts from and
admits only what he or others have actually observed in the songs,
traditions, and customs of the respective Slavic provinces. In the
descriptions of the manners, customs, and superstitions of the Slavic
people, whether they be of an esthetic or coarse character, Krauss is
a faithful portrayer and perfectly famihar with what he describes.
The belief in witches is much stronger among the Slavs than in any
of our " most catholic *' countries, and many of the instances men-
tioned by Krauss would be profoundly ludicrous if^ they did not
excite in us a still more profound feeling of compassion for the
ignorance of humanity. The Vilas of the Southern Slavs are a
peculiar sort of ghostlike women somewhat comparable to our
fairies. They have been often described in recent publications and
Krauss defines them (p. 69) as ** ripened souls of trees, acting chiefly
outside their tree-homes." His ** Pestfrauen " (pestiferous women)
are anthropomorphisms of wood-spirits or forest-fairies, the miasmatic
effluvia from the woods and thickets bottled up in human forms.
From the following headings readers may obtain a glimpse of the
rich ethnologic contents of the book: Sun, moon, stars; the man
and the spinning woman in the moon; spirits of fate, virgins repre-
senting fate ; gifts of the tree-souls; spirits of the deceased inhabit-
ing trees; imprecations and conjuring formulae; spirit of the
mountain; witchcraft for milk and butter; Vilas the friends of
horses ; oaths and bets of Vilas ; insanity caused by Vilas ; Vilas in
the clouds; their visibility. Meeting places of witches; their tools
of witchery and effects upon the weather. Mortuary superstitions.
Candles made from human fat ; sacrifices of all sorts. Immuration
of living animals. Prophecy from omoplates, etc.
It is impossible to do justice to a book of so extensive learning
and research within the compass of a review. The attention of
the reader having been directed to it he may safely be left to judge
for himself Albert S. Gatschet.
37
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290 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
NOTES AND NEWS.
Iroquoian Mythologic Notes. — In Iroquoian legendary and
mythologic lore the most characteristic and remarkable heroes and
heroines belong to a peculiar class. The Onondaga name for them
is te-ha-no-a'-to°* for a male, and te-ye-no-a'-to*^* for a female ; while
ra*-tir'-har for a male, and a'-tir'-har for a female, are Tuskarora
designations. The Tuskarora not infrequently use as substitutes for
the last-mentioned terms, na-ru-nur'-ha'r for a male, and na-ya-
nur'-ha*r for a female.
The Great Father and Mother of the race were of this class,
although they were born and feared above cloud-land and on the
upper side of the sky, thus showing that the ideas respecting these
beings originated in remote antiquity. The etymology of these
several terms appears to have been lost with the custom of which
they are severally the names. Only conjectural and unsatisfactory
reasons for the custom could be obtained by the writer from those
who used them in the many legends and myths which he has col-
lected in the past few year?.
Before attempting to assign an etymology to the foregoing deno-
tive terms, the striking features of the mode of life peculiar to the
class of persons of which they are the names will be given.
A person assigned to this class (which appears to have been very
small in number in every community) was most studiously ** secreted * *
or ** concealed'* from the eyes of all persons, either in their own
home or in that of some one near of kin, who lived alone and
secluded. No one, with the exception of one or two of the blood
relations of the person so "concealed," was ever allowed to see
him or her. To this end, the "secreted ** person was forced to lie
in bed and to remain covered from head to foot, night and day,
except when eating or attending to other necessities. An appro-
priate diet was also prescribed. Seclusion began with the earliest
infancy and before any of the natural capacities of the child had
developed sufficiently to reveal anything regarding the gifts and
powers of the future man or woman. This seems to indicate that
some prodigy attending the birth of the child was the criterion by
which an infant was adjudged to be born into this class in question.
At the appearance of the age of puberty the "secreted** person
Digitized by VjOOQIC
July 1890.] NOTES AND NEWS. 291
was '* mature," and could then enter into the enterprises for which
his conjectured supernatural gifts fitted him. The data at hand for
arriving at any definite conclusions in regard to the origin of this
custom are meagre and undecisive.
The etymologies of the Tuskaroran terms na-ni-nur-ha*r and
ra*-tir-har seem to point quite clearly to the rare and unusual fact
of a child "born with a caul." The verb stems in both words,
-ha'r and -har, are both from one and the same root, -har to ** lay
upon, put upon;" hence, in the perfect tense used with a present
tense signification, it means to **have on, wear, or bear." The
nominal stems -nur- and -'tir- of the two words seem to be closely
connected with the stem -tar-, for a / and an n are permutable in
the languages of the Iroquois. The stem -tar- is the base of the
word u-tar'-6; "spawn, placenta, caul, etc., etc." The nominal
part -nur- is the base of the word u-nur'-S, a plait or braid of husks,
being evidently connected with u-tur'-S, a "husk" or "sheath."
The stem -'tir- is the base of u-*tir'-6, which means at present
" parturitive moaning," but originally the same as u-tar'-S. So that
if the foregoing identifications be correct the words na-ru-nur'-ha*r
and ra-^tir'-har signified originally " he-has-on-caul. " The fact
that nature had "covered" differently from others the child so
born would probably lead to the custom of keeping it covered after
birth. J. N. B. Hewitt.
A Collection of Stone Implements from the District of
Columbia. — Mr. S. V. Proudfit has presented to the Smithsonian
Institution his entire collection of stone implements from the Dis-
trict of Columbia, and on April 15, 1890, he read before the An-
thropological Society a paper submitted with the donation.
The collection is fairly typical of aboriginal handicraft as it is
now found in the fields of the District, and includes axes, both
grooved and ungrooved, polished and rough ; arrow-heads, knives
and scrapers, unfinished implements, chips and flakes from work-
shops and village sites, pottery, and soapstone vessels. Each piece
was catalogued when collected, and a full descriptive catalogue ac-
companies the collection, together with a map showing the fields
from which the relics were obtained.
The paper touches upon the conditions attendant upon the dis-
tribution of these remains in the Potomac valley, and considers at
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292 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
some length questions bearing upon the relative antiquity of the
chipped pebble-work from the workshops and elsewhere, with the
conclusion that it belongs to the same period of culture that is rep-
resented in the historic Indian village sites of the District.
Drum-Telegraph of the Cameroon Natives. — Das Ausland for
February, 1889, etseq, has a very interesting article by Robert Miiller
on **Life and Occupations in the Cameroon,** in which a curious
instrument is thus described : A log is hollowed out and is divided
along the transverse diameter by a bridge, upon which a drumstick
is beaten to produce sounds of different tones. This rather unprom-
ising musical instrument becomes of great importance as a means of
communication, and may, in fact, be called a "drum-telegraph.*'
The villages are situated comparatively close together, and by means
of the drum news is communicated rapidly from one village to
another. A regular drum-language has been invented, and this can
be imitated with the mouth or beaten on the breast, so that conver-
sation can be carried on by the natives in the presence of white men
without the latter understanding it, though comprehending the
spoken language. The drum also serves the ordinary purpose of an
instrument to dance by, etc. H. W. Henshaw.
A Modification of Broca*s Stereograph. — Broca*s stereograph
is one of the most convenient instruments for making geometrical
drawings of crania. It has, however, the disadvantage of being not
quite exact on account of lack of stability of the frame and of loose-
ness of its numerous joints. The principle underlying the construc-
tion of this instrument is very simple : A steel point which is kept
vertically on a drawing board is made to follow the outlines and
sutures of a cranium. The steel point is attached to a cast-iron
frame, the opposite end of which carries a pencil, forming exactly
the continuation of the axis of the steel point. When the steel
point follows the outlines of the cranium the pencil draws a geo-
metrical projection of the same lines. In Broca*s instrument the
drawing board stands vertically and consequently the steel point
must be held horizontally, which requires a rather complicated
arrangement for suspending and adjusting the frame holding the
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July 189a] NOTES AND NEWS. 293
point. By placing the drawing board horizontally this difficulty
may be overcome, and the apparatus is not only more exact, but at
the same time far less expensive. It may be described as a com-
bination of Broca's stereograph and of Von Cohausen's craniograph,
which latter instrument seems to have hardly ever been used. It
consists of a large drawing board spanned by a brass bridge which
is placed about three inches above the board. The strip of brass
forming the bridge rests on two pieces of wood that are screwed to
the sides of the board. The bridge carries the cranium. The draw-
ing apparatus corresponds exactly to that of Broca's stereograph.
The cast-iron frames, carrying the steel point and the pencil, are,
however, attached to a heavy iron foot board which slides on four
feet on the drawing board. It will be seen at once that all the ob-
jections to Broca's instrument arising from the looseness of its joints
and the instability of its frame are thus overcome. Experiments
made with the modified form of the instrument in the anthropolog-
ical laboratory of Clark University have given very satisfactory re-
sults. The cranium is held in place on the bridge by means of
lumps of clay, which serve also for adjusting it in the desired posi-
tion. A slight modification of the same instrument may be used for
studies of the endocranium. The steel point which is used for trac-
ing the outlines of the cranium is removed. A horizontal steel point
may be attached to the vertical arm of the drawing frame. Its point
is exactly vertical above the pencil. This horizontal arm is intro-
duced into the foramen magnum and touches the endocranium.
The anterior end of the point is curved so that it can touch all
points of the sagittal and of transversal cross sections of the skull.
By following the surface of the endocranium the pencil will draw
the outline of the same. Thus drawings of sections of the skull in
any plane crossing the foramen magnum may be obtained.
F. BoAS.
Primitive Games. — Under this title, Mr. Everard F. im Thum,
the well-known ethnologist of British Guiana, gives (in Timehn\
V. 3, n. s. pt. 2, Dec, 1889) a very interestingaccount of the games
of the Indians of Guiana, based on his own observations. The paper
is too long for reproduction, even in abstract. It will be found to
well repay reading by those interested in the subject of games.
John Murdoch.
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291 THE AMBRICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. {Vol. 111.
Sacred Stone Enclosure of the Fijians. — A full and de-
tailed account of the ** Nanga of Viti-Leva** is given by Adolph
B. Joske in Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie (V. 2, pt. 6,
1889, pp. 254-271). These curious stone enclosures, which were
used for the celebration of rites similar to those of the Australian
Bora and probably connected with the club or secret society found
through all Melanesia, and called the Dukduk, were only discovered
a few years ago, when the Rev. Lorimer Fison, a Wesleyan mis-
sionary, succeeded in getting a tolerably good account of its struc-
ture and of the rites connected with it. Mr. Joske had the good
fortune to see three of these NUnga (or *' beds *'), though in ruined
condition, and obtained from the older natives detailed discriptions
of the Narga rites.
The Nanga ceremonies were practiced only m a certain limited
region in Viti-Leva, and were kept up as late as 1876 by the Kaithols,
or highlanders, who at that date were subjugated by the British gov-
ernment. **)Vith their subjugation everything was swept away
which tended to keep alive the memory of old tradition. The lotu
(Christianity) was professed by all, the ways of the coast tribes were
adopted, and old fashions discarded, good and bad alike.*'
It is fortunate that such careful observers have succeeded in rescu-
ing so much information about this remarkable association which
is of great interest in connection with the secret societies which
are continually being discovered among savages elsewhere.
John Murdoch.
Elephant Mound. — In an article in Transactions of the Wiscon-
sin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters (1889) Mr. Peet dis-
cusses the so-called ** Elephant Mounds." He finds that the present
condition of the original elephant mound is such as not to permit
accurate measurements. His examination, however, convinced him
that the proboscis attributed to the figure, upon which has chiefly
rested its identification as an elephant, is due to washing of the
sandy soil. The same conclusion had been reached previously by
Professor Thomas from an examination and surveys made by
assistants of the Bureau of Ethnology. Professor Thomas believes
that the effigy in question was intended for a bear. Mr. Peet's
conclusion with reference to other so-called elephant mounds ex-
amined by him is that they represent bears or bisons.
H. W. Henshaw.
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July 1890.] NOTES AND NEWS. 295
Eastern New Guinea. — "The natives of St. Aigran do not
appear to have any religions belief, nor to have troubled their heads
about a future state. The interpreter told me that it was quite
possible that white men existed somewhere after death, but that his
people certainly did not. Their belief in the supernatural is confined
to witchcraft, and the idea that no one can die except from the
spells of some wizard of a hostile tribe fs the cause of most of their
wars. The dead are buried, but the head is sometimes afterwards
exhumed and placed in a stone cairn. . . . Polygamy is
allowed, but is not common. The usual price for a wife is a stone
hatchet, shell ear-rings, and three pigs, which, although nearly as
much as would be paid for the life of a warrior, is not exorbitant,
considering that a wife cuts wood, draws water, and even plants the
food on which her husband is to subsist." (Basil Thompson,
"Narration of an exploring expedition to the eastern part of New
Guinea,*' Scottish Geographical Magazine , vol. 5, no. 10, Oct.,
1889, pp. 513-527.) John Murdoch.
Language of the Mosetena Indians of Bolivia. — M. Lucien
Adam publishes {Revue de Linguistique^ July, 1889) some grammati-
cal notes on the language of this little tribe of Indians, who live
near the headwaters of the River Beni, among the mountains ot
Central Bolivia. These notes are chiefly based on a sort of cate-
chism published in 1834 by a Spanish missionary. Father Andres
Herrero, in connection with vocabularies published in 1883 in the
Kansas City Review by Mr. Edwin R. Heath. M. Adam states
that the language is not related to any of the known Bolivian
languages. John Murdoch.
West African Music. — The governor of the British colony of
Lagos, on the west coast of Africa, has just published an excellent
article entitled '*0n the Melodies of the Volof, Mandingo, Ewe,
Yoruba, and Houssa people of West Africa,** in the number of the
Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society issued in March,
1890 (vol. 5, nos. 7-9). In this he gives twenty-two musical scores
with words, and an interesting account of the occasions on which
these songs are sung and of the musical instruments used.
John Murdoch.
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296 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The Wanyamuesi. — Paul Reichard concludes his interesting
account of these people in No. 5 of the last volume of Zeitschrift
der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin (v. 24, 1889, PP* 3<^4""33i)'
In this article he describes the occupations and amusements of the
little girls, having dealt with the boys in the preceding article, and
then goes on to treat at length of the mental and moral character-
istics of the people, their clothing, and ornaments. Particularly
noticeable under the last head is his account of the sufferings the
women endure in fitting on the tight armlets and anklets of twisted
hair or metal. He then describes their daily occupations, their
food, and the methods of preparing it, and closes with an account of
the use of narcotics, tobacco, and hemp. Tlie article is a model of
ethnographic description and is written in a clear and entertaining
style. John Murdoch.
The American Indians. — Dr. Eugene Verrin has published a
short paper on the American Indians (*'Quelques notres ethnogi-
niques et ethnographiques sur les Indiens de TAmerique, Bull. Soc.
d* Ethnographic, April, 1888, pp. 102-106). He accounts for the
mesaticephalic skull of most of the Indians of the present time as
the effect of the admixture with an originally dolicocephalic race of
brachycephalic invaders, enumerating as probable admixtures the
Canarians or Guanches, the Negroes, the Scandinavians, and the
Japanese and Malays. After stating, without question, that the
Indians are all rapidly decreasing in numbers, he goes on to men-
tion a number of valuable gifts which civilization owes to the Indians.
Among these he instances tobacco, chocolate, logwood, cochineal,
arnotto, the tomato, and the potato. John Murdoch.
Maya Manuscripts. — A. Castaing publishes in the Bulletin de la
Soci6t6 d' ethnographic a review of the work done in deciphering
the Maya manuscripts (" La litt6rature 6crite de TAntiquit^ Am^ri-
caine et le d^chiffrement des textes hieratiques Mayas," Novembre,
1888, pp. 289-292), beginning with the Landa Manuscript and the
work of Brasseur de Bombourg and his followers, who he declares
"did not gain the esteem which their efforts solicited." The new
school beginning with L^on de Rosny in 1876 has obtained assured
and decisive results. John Murdoch.
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THE
American Anthropologist.
Vol. III. WASHINGTON. D. C, OCTOBER, 1890. No. 4.
THE ASCENT OF MAN.*
BY FRANK BAKER.
I think I could turn and live awhile with the animals— they are so placid
and self-contained.
They bring me tokens of myself « ♦ ♦
I do not know where they got those tokens,
I must have passed that way untold times ago and negligently dropped
them,
Myself moving forward then and now and forever.
Wait Whitman—iSss.
The science of anthropology, one of the younger daughters of
human knowledge, is so vast in its scope that to master all of
its different ramifications seems a hopeless task. Having for its
object the comprehensive study of man, including his origin, his
development, and his present condition, its aim is to focus and
co-ordinate the general results derived from a vast number of
subordinate branches. The philologist contributes information
concerning the origin and growth of language and its effect upon
civilization, the mythologist tells of the psychological side of the
human mind and traces the rise and progress of religious ideas,
t he archaeologist, in order to fix their places in the history of man-
kind, searches for the remains of peoples long since passed away.
All these depend for their material upon external records, left by
tradition, by writing, by sculpture, or by implements and weapons.
* Address of the Vice-President before the Section of Anthropology, American
Association for the Advancement of Science, at the Indianapolis Meeting, August
20, 1890.
38 (297)
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298 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
With greatest care every habitation of man is searched in order to
learn from it the details of the life of its former inhabitants.
Within comparatively recent times still another avenue of infor-
mation has been found, for we have learned that it is not alone by
these external records that man's history can be traced, but that
important facts may be obtained by studying the constitution of
his body ; that the changes and vicissitudes of his existence are
recorded on his very bones, in characters long undeciphered but to
which the clue has at last been found. My labors have led me more
particularly to this department of anthropology, and a concise sum-
mary of the main heads of this research may be of value and in-
terest.
The views propounded by Lamarck in the early part of this cen-
tury, with reference to the modification of living organisms by use
and adaptation, have been remarkably confirmed in modern times.
Exhaustive researches into the constitution and properties of the
cells composing living tissues show that they are subject to continual
change, each impulse from without being registered by some small
alteration in their physical condition. Impulses of a similar kind
continuously acting produce greater changes, and long-continued
repetition notably alters even the hardest and most enduring of
structures. Thus it is that bones are modified in form by muscular
pull, and the surfaces of teeth are shaped by incessant grinding.
These alterations are more readily apparent to us because they affect
very hard and easily preserved organs, but the effects are equally
potent, though not so clearly recognizable, in the softer tissues of the
body. Every act of our lives is certainly but surely registered
within the marvelous structure of our bodies. Not a muscle can
contract without an absolute change in its substance; not a nerve-
cell can discharge without some self-destruction.
Most of these changes being very minute and evanescent are
quite beyond our power to accurately estimate, and were the incre-
ments of change confined to a single lifetime — were each individual
to stand only for himself and compelled to earn his experience by
the same tedious struggle — use and adaptation would have but little
power to mold mankind into races and varieties. Rut by the ac-
tion of a law as yet imperfectly understood, the adaptations of each
individual are transmitted to its offspring ; or, to speak more accu-
rately, the offspring pass through the changes more easily and quickly
than the parent did. While each has always to go back to the be-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OF MAN. 299
ginning and commence from the simple blastema of the primitive
^ggy the younger has the advantage of being able to adapt itself
more quickly to its surroundings, provided these have not too greatly
changed, and thus starts a little way ahead of its ancestor in the
race for life. In consequence of this law changes become cumula-
tive, and a cause acting for a great length of time upon a series of
successive generations finally produces a well-marked and easily
observed effect in the structure of individuals — changing colors,
modifying organs, shaping whole regions of the body.
Again, if, after such changes have been effected, these causes cease
to operate and the organs they have shaped are no longer of use, the
latter become reduced in size, atrophy and recede, remaining, bow-
ever, in a vestigial condition for many, many generations as
records of the past history of the race, as dolmens and cromlechs
certify to former customs and flint arrow-heads and stone hatchets
give evidence of a previous state of civilization.
The human body abounds in testimony of this sort — indica-
tions of the pathway by which humanity has climbed from darkness
to light, from bestiality to civilization — ^relics of countless ages of
struggle, often fierce, bloody, and pitiless.
These are found in every organ of the body, and each new
investigation adds to their number. To enumerate them all
would be impossible within the limits assigned me by your patience.
I will therefore touch only upon a few of the more striking ones,
especially those connected with the modifications of the limbs, with
the erect position, and with the segmentation of the body.
The limbs, being organs of support and locomotion, show great
variations in the zoological series, and the hand of man has
long been looked upon as especially significant ^>^is high posi-
tion in the animal kingdom — one of the chief distinctions be-
tween him and the nearest brutes. To a certain e3«ent this is
correct. No creature possesses so highly complex and^ effective
an organ for grasping and adjusting objects, and it is pre-emi-
nently this that has made man a tool-using animal. On com-
paring a human hand with that of the anthropoids it may be seen
that this efficiency is produced in two ways — first, increasing the
mobility and variety of action of the thumb and fingers ; second,
reducing the muscles used mainly to assist prolonged grasp, they
being no longer necessary to an organ for delicate work requiring
constant readjustment. Thus some elements are added and some
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300 THE AMERICAN ANTUUOPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
taken away. Now, according to the theory I have enunciated, the
latest elements ought to show signs of their recent origin — to be
somewhat imperfectly differentiated and liable to return to their
primitive state, while those going out of active use ought to be
vestigial, not equal in size or force to muscular organs generally,
very liable to variation or disappearance. This is what actually
occurs.
Among the new elements is a special flexor muscle for the thumb
arising high up on the fore-arm. A very slight examination shows
that this muscle has been split off from the fibres of the deep flexor
that bends the terminal joints of the fingers. In most apes the two
form a single muscle, and in man the thumb flexor very often shows
unmistakable evidence of such origin. In about lo per cent, of
persons part of its fibres pass over and become blended with the
parent muscle. Not infrequently I have seen the two entirely
united, returning absolutely to their primitive condition. The
deep and superficial flexors of the fingers show signs of a similar
relationship, as they frequently blend more' or less, tending to revert
to the type shown in most lower animals. Indeed, if we go back
to embryonic life we find all the muscles of the anterior part of the
fore-arm united in what is termed the pronato-flexor mass, recall-
ing the original condition of musculature in the earliest animals
possessing limbs.
In the category of disappearing muscles comes the palmaris
longus, an important aid in climbing and grasping. It takes its
origin from the upper arm and passes to the hand, where it expands
into a large sheet of thick membrane called the palmar fascia, which
splits into several slips passing to each finger. The pull of the
muscle acts upon all the fingers together, keeping them bent without
independence of action. Now in man the fingers have each two
separate flexor tendons that can act to a certain extent independently.
To ensure their independence they are, at the wrist, enclosed in a
remarkable tubular conduit or subway formed by soldering the
palmar fascia to the wrist-bones. This at once destroys any effective
action of the palmaris longus on the fingers and it becomes a flexor
of the wrist. This soldering undoubtedly took place because the
muscle was no longer required as a finger-holder. Like other
organs that after playing a considerable part have come from change
of habit to be of but little value, it shows the most astonishing
tendency to variation. Not a week passes in a large dissecting
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OF MAN. 301
room that some curious anomaly is not found in this muscle. Some-
times it is seen almost in its primitive condition, the palmar fascia
being comparatively movable and the pal maris longus having some
effect upon the flexion of the fingers ; oftener it unites wholly or
partially with some portion of the pronato-flexor mass or disappears
altogether. The disappearance is usually only apparent, however.
Regressive structures rarely disappear totally, for on careful search
a strip of fascia can usually be found that represents the atrophied
and aborted organ.
Since these two examples differ in that the first represents the
development of a new muscle while the second is the atrophy of an
old one, we ought to find racial differences corresponding to these
two conditions. Our studies of rackil anatomy are as yet far from
sufficient to give us certain information upon these points, and I
would especially avoid generalizing upon too meagre data. It has,
however, appeared to me that in negroes the palmaris longus is more
inclined to assume its primitive type — that is, to be less likely to
vary — while the long flexor of the thumb is, on the contrary, more
inclined to be partially if not wholly united with the deep flexor of
the fingers.
Connected intimately with the hand are the other portions of the
thoracic limb that carry it from place to place. Here again we
may note many points indicating a progressive development of the
member. When the arm is naturally and easily bent at the elbow
it does not carry the hand to the shoulder, as might be expected,
but towards the mouth. The reason for this is that the articular
surfaces of the elbow-joint are not cut horizontally across the axis of
the humerus but inclined at an angle of about 20®. This obliquity
does not occur in the foetus and is less in Bushmen, Australians,
and the anthropoid apes. It is associated with another pe-
culiarity; indeed, may be said to be caused by it. This is
a twisting of the humerus on its axis, which occurs markedly in the
higher races. If we hold up endwise the humerus of a European
we see that the longest diameters of the upper and lower ends very
nearly coincide. In the negro we find the lower diameter turned
more towards the body ; still more in the anthropoid apes, and
again more as we descend the scale. Embryology teaches that the
humerus was formerly set so that the hollow of the elbow looked
backward rather than forward, and it seems, therefore, that, as the
functions of the limb became more various, the lower end of the
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302 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. 111.
bone gradually twisted outward around the long axis until its
diameter described a considerable arc. This turned the hand with
the palm to the front, extended its range and adapted it for a wider
usefulness. Greater twist is found in the right humerus than in the
left and in the humeri of modern times than in those of the stone
age. As the torsion increased some provision became necessary for
carrying the hand easily across the body to the mouth. This was
effected by the inclination of the trochlear surface of the elbow-
joint already adverted to.
Many movements of the arm in man are produced by muscles
acting upon the shoulder-blade or scapula. As the hand was turned
outward and a wider range given, these increased in extent and im-
portance, and the scapula accordingly widened out at its vertebral
border in order to give a more extensive attachment for muscles.
In order to accurately estimate this change the ratio of the breadth
to the length of the scapula is taken. This ratio, called the scapu-
lar index, is highest among the white races, less in the infant, in
negroes, and in Australians, and still less in anthropoid apes. It is
significant also that the vertebral border of the scapula is the last to
form in the foetus. We have, therefore, three modifications — the
torsion of the humerus, the inclination of its trochlear surface, and
the scapular index — all depending upon each other, all varying to-
gether /arr'/^wjw, and all showing a progressive development both
in the individual and the race.
. Muscle is composed of one of the most highly organized and ex-
pensive tissues of the body. Unless fed constantly with a great
supply of blood to keep up its active metabolic changes, it quickly
wastes, functional activity being absolutely necessary to its proper
maintenance, as any one knows who has seen how rapidly the
muscles of an athlete diminish when he goes out of training.
If from accident or change of habit its use altogether ceases, its
protoplasm is gradually removed, its blood-supply diminishes, and
it shrinks to a mere band or sheet of fibrous tissue. Changes of
function may therefore affect the form of muscles, one portion
becoming tendinous or fascia-like ; may even cause them to shift
their places by inducing a development on one side and an atrophy
on another, or to disappear altogether, replaced by fascia or liga-
ment. A similar regression may take place in bone and cartilage,
a high grade, actively metabolic tissue, difficult to maintain, being
replaced by a low grade one comparatively slow to change. It is,
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Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OP MAN. 303
therefore, not unusual to find that muscles, bones, and cartilages
performing important functions in some animals are represented by
vestigial structures in those higher in the scale. Our conclusions
on this subject are confirmed by finding occasional instances where
the hereditary tendency has been greater than usual and the parent
form is reproduced more or less completely in the higher animal.
The palmar fascia at the distal end of the palmaris longus, to which
allusion has been made, represents a former muscular portion, relics
of which probably remain as some of the small thumb muscles.
Another interesting instance is the epitrochleo-anconeus, a small
muscle at the elbow-joint, used in apes to effect a lateral movement
of the ulna upon the humerus. In man the ulna has become so
shaped that the lateral movement is almost totally lost, and the muscle
has accordingly degenerated, being represented by a strip of fascia.
Very often, however, a few muscular fibres are still found in this
situation.
Several minor peculiarities that remind us of primitive condi-
tions occur in the region of the humerus. Occasionally a supra-
condyloid process is found throwing a protecting arch over the
brachial artery and median nerve; in this resembling the supra-
condyloid foramen of marsupials. Struthers found this to be heredi-
tary, occurring in a father and four children. A perforation of the
olecranon fossa may probably be regarded as a reversion towards
the condition of anthropoid apes. This frequently occurs in South
African and other low tribes and in the men of the stone age.
Recently Dr. D. S. Lamb has found it remarkably frequent in pre-
historic Indian humeri from the Salado Valley, Arizona.
While the region of the hand and fore-arm indicates increased
of specialization, the upper part of the limb generally testifies
to a regression from a former more highly developed state. The
anatomy of the flying apparatus of a bird shows a series of mus-
cular, ligamentous, and bony structures connected with its upper
arm far beyond anything ever seen in man. The coracoid bone, a
very important element of the shoulder girdle in birds, has become
reduced in man to a little vestigial ossicle that about the sixteenth
year becomes soldered to the scapula as the coracoid process. The
muscles arising from this — pectoralis minor, coraco-brachialis, and
biceps — are structures represented in birds by strong, flying muscles.
The subclavius, a little slip ending at the clavicle, appears to have
formerly passed to the coracoid bone or to the humerus and been
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304 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
employed in arm movement. The pectoralis major appears to
represent what was formerly a series of muscles. All these have a
tendency to repeat their past history, and the number of variations
found among them is legion. The biceps shows traces of its former
complexity by appearing with three, four, or even five heads, by a
great variety of insertions, by sending a tendon outside the joint
capsule instead of through it, as is the rule. The pectoralis major
may break up into several different muscular integers, inserted from
the shoulder capsule down to the elbow. The coraco-brachialis
shows the same instability, and by its behavior clearly indicates its
derivation from a much larger and more extensive muscular sheet.
Not less significant are the ligaments about the shoulder. Many
of these appear to be relics of organs found active in animals lower
in the scale. Thus the coraco-acromial ligament spanning over
the shoulder-joint is probably a former extension of the acromion
process ; the rhomboid, conoid, trapezoid, and gleno-humeral liga-
ments represent regressive changes in the subclavius muscle, the
coraco-humeral ligament, a former insertion of the pectoralis minor.
Bands of the deep cervical fescia alone remain to testify to the
former existence of the levator claviculae, a muscle present in most
mammals and used to pull forward the shoulder girdle when walk-
ing in a quadrupedal position. In negroes I have frequently found
it more or less complete. A fibrous strip uniting the latissimus
dorsi to the triceps is all that remains of an important muscle, the
dorso-epi trochlear is, passing from the back to the elbow or fore-arm,
used by gibbons and other arboreal apes in swinging from branch
to branch. Testut found this fully developed in a Bushman. I
have myself seen various muscular slips that must represent some
portion of it, and authors generally describe it as occurring in 5 or
6 per cent, of individuals.
The hind limbs of apes are popularly thought to be remarkably
specialized. The term quadrumana or four-handed is used to char-
acterize the class ; yet it is quite true that this term involves a false
conception. No animal has four exactly similar feet, still less four
hands. The feet of the ape differ widely from hands ; the great
toe is not really opposable like the thumb, but merely separable
from the others and differently set, so as to afford a grasp like that
of a cramp-iron. The gibbon alone has a small muscle of the foot
that may be compared with the opponens of the thumb. That
these peculiarities are also shared by man to some extent is also well
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OP MAN. 305
known. It is quite possible to train the toes to do a certain kind of
prehensile work, even to write, cut paper, and sew. A baby not
yet able to walk can often pick up small objects with its toes. Com-
pare the marks caused by muscular action on the sole of a baby's
foot with those on the hand, and it will be seen that there are dis-
tinct signs of this prehension. Even the opponens hallucis of the
gibbon is not infrequently found in man. 'Qie foetal condition of
the foot also approaches that of the apes, the heel being shorter and
the joints so arranged that the sole can be easily turned inward. In
the ape the first or great toe is turned backward and outward by
shortening its metatarsal bone and setting it obliquely upon the
ankle. This shortening and obliquity also occur in the foetus ; the
adult condition, in which the metatarsal bone is lengthened and set
straight so as to give a longer and firmer internal border to the foot,
being gradually acquired. Many savage tribes still uise the foot for
climbing and have a shorter metatarsal, a wider span between the
first and second toes, and greater ease in inverting the sole. Con-
nected with this ease of inversion should be mentioned a peculiar,
ape-like form of the tibia that occurs in people of the stone age, in
the mound-builders, and in some American Indians. This is a flat-
tened, sabre-like condition of the bone known as platycnemy. It
is apparently to give greater surface of attachment and resistance
to the pull of the tibialis anticus, the principal muscle that turns
the sole inward. It is interesting to note that this peculiarity is
much more marked in some early human skeletons than in any of
the anthropoids.
The poet says that while other animals grovelling regard the earth,
' Jupiter gave to man an uplifted countenance, artd ordered him to
look heavenward and hold his face erect towards the stars.
" Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terrain,
Os homini sublime dedit, ccelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus." *
Ovid^ Metamorphoses : I, 84-86,
* Compare Milton :
**A creature who not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing." '
Paradise Lost: VI l^ jo6-Sio,
39
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306 ' THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The erect position is, however, gradually acquired. As in the
sphinx's riddle, we literally go on all fours in the morning of life,
and the difficulty that an infant experiences in learning to walk erect
is strong evidence that that is an accomplishment acquired by the
race late in its history. We ought, if this is the case, to find in
the human body indications of a previous semi-erect posture. There
is a vast amount of evidence of this character, and I can only sketch
the outlines of it.
The erect position in standing is secured by the shape of the foot,
by the attachment of strong muscles at points of sev^est strain, and
by the configuration of the great joints which permits them to be
held locked when a standing posture is assumed. All these features
are liable to great variation ; they are less marked in children and
in the lower races. Let us examine them somewhat more carefully.
The Caucasian type of foot is evidently that best adapted for the
erect position. The great toe is larger, stronger, and longer than
the others, making a firm support for the inner anterior pier of the
arch formed by the bones — an arch completed by a well-developed
heel and maintained by a strong dense band of fascia and ligament
binding the piers together like the tie-rod of a bow-string truss —
thus producing a light and elastic structure admirably adapted to
support the weight of the body and diminish the effect of shocks.
In the lower races of man all these characters are less marked.
The great toe is shorter and smaller, the heel-bone less strongly
made, the arch much flatter. This flattening of the arch produces
the projection of the heel found in some races.
The muscles required for maintaining the erect position are those
which frdm our predilection for human anatomy we are apt to call
the ^^«/ extensors, overlooking the fact that in other animals they
are by no means as well developed as in man. Being required at
the points of greatest strain, all are situated on the posterior aspect
of the body — the calf, the buttock, and the back.
A very slight examination of any lower animal will show
how strikingly it differs in the muscular development of these re-
gions. The great muscle of man's calf, the triceps extensor sura,
IS formed by the welding together of some four muscles separate
in many lower forms. Varieties are found in man showing all grades
of separation in these elements. One of the muscles, the planta-
ris, was formerly a great flexor of the toes, the plantar fascia repre-
senting its former distal extent. Like the palmaris of the arm it lost
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Oct, 189a] THE ASCENT OP MAN. 307
its original function Ijy the welding of the fascia to the bones to
secure the plantar arch, and its functions being then assumed by
other muscles it began to dwindle, and is now represented by a mere
vestigial rudiment of no functional value. It is well known that
the lower races of men have smaller calves than Europeans. Again,
it should be noted that as the erect position is assumed the muscles
required for the flexion and independent action of the toes become
reduced in character. A comparison with other forms shows that
some of the small muscles now confined to the region of the foot
formerly took their origin higher up, from the bones of the leg.
Losing in functional importance, they have dwindled in size and
gradually moved downward.
The great glutaei muscles of the buttock find their highest devel-
opment in man. They are subject to similar variations. Certain
muscles of this region, normal in apes, are occasionally found in
man — a separate head of the great glutaeus, derived from the ischium,
and the scansorius, or climbing muscle, that assists the great flexor
of the thigh (the ilio-psoas) may be mentioned.
The enormous size and complexity of the muscles of the back in
man are well known. The erector of the spine fills up the vertebral
grooves and sends up tendons along the back like stays supporting
the masts of a ship. The mass of this muscle is comparatively less
in anthropoids.
Notwithstanding all these powerful muscles, it would be impossible
to retain the erect position for any great length of time were we to
depend upon them alone, for it requires as before stated, a great ex-
penditure of force to keep a muscle in active use. It becomes rap-
idly fatigued and then loses its power, as any one may prove by
standing in any constrained position, even ** in the position of a
soldier," for half an hour. To provide against this a beautiful
arrangement of joints and ligaments has been developed.
When in the erect attitude the anlde-joint is so arranged that its
bones are in a position of greatest stability, and the center of gravity
is so adjusted that it falls directly upon it. This reduces to a mini-
mum the amount of muscular force required to keep the body erect.
At the knee the center of gravity falls a little in front of the axis of
the limb, and the back and sides of the joint are provided with
check ligaments or straps that hold the joints locked in a position
of hyper-extension, so that no muscular force whatever is used to
maintain it. These ligaments are regressive structures, being ves-
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308 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOIX)GIST. [Vol. III.
tiges of former insertions of muscles near the joint. At the hip a
similar condition occurs, the center of gravity falling behind the
joint and the whole weight of the trunk being hung upon the ilio-
femoral ligament. This structure is much more marked in man than
in other mammals, and is found to vary considerably in its size and
strength.
The spinal column has been remarkably modified to adapt it to
the erect position. Before the fifth month of uterine life the whole
spine describes a single, large, dorsally directed curve like that of the
quadruped, arranged to accommodate the viscera. As this would be
incompatible with the erect posture, two additional curves in the
opposite direction are formed — one in the region of the loins just
where the center of gravity would begin to fall forward, another
in the neck to counteract the heavy and unstable weight of the
head. These curves are gradually acquired. While possessed
by all races, and in a less degree by the higher apes, they arrive at
their highest development in Europeans. Careful measurements
show that the shapes of the vertebrae have been gradually modified.
There is no abrupt transition from the spine of the lowest savages —
Australian, Bushman, Andaman — to that of the gorilla, gibbon, and
chimpanzee, and the Inmbar curve of the lower races of men is
much better adapted to running in a semi-erect position through
the jungle or bush.
There is also evidence that the posterior limbs have moved for-
ward upon the spinal column in order that the erect position may
be assumed with less effort. In man there are between the skull and
the sacrum twenty-four vertebrae. The other primates have usually
twenty-six, although the gorilla, chimpanzee, and orang agree with
man. Now in foetal life the attachment of the hip-bones to the
sacrum commences from below upward. Union first occurs with
the third sacral vertebra, leaving twenty-six presacral, then ad-
vances forward, the first sacral uniting last of all. The hip-bones
actually move up along the spine a distance of two segments. Occa-
sionally this shifting is carried still farther, and but twenty-three
presacral vertebrae are left. Anomalies caused by an arrest of devel-
opment at some stage of this process are not at all infrequent. The
most common is the want of union between the hip-bones and the
first sacral vertebra, thus producing apparently six lumbar vertebrae.
A most beautiful specimen of this anomaly was found last winter in
my laboratory.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OF MAN. 309
The spine is sustained erect by stringing from vertebra to vertebra
numbers of short ligaments that reduce to a minimum the muscular
exertion required to support it. These are particularly numerous
between the spines along the great dorsal curvature. Some of these
ligaments are replaced by small muscles, very inconstant and vari-
able, the survivals of a whole system of musculature that had for its
object the moving of the separate joints of the spine, one upon
another.
The head is also much modified by the erect position. In quad-
rupeds its suspension requires an extensive apparatus, a large,
strong, elastic strap — the ligamentum nuchae — passing from the tips
of the thoracic vertebrae to the occiput, sending processes to all the
neck vertebrae involved in the strain. Though need for it has in
great degree ceased, since the head has become poised in such a way
as to involve but little expenditure of muscular force, yet relics of
this great suspensory apparatus remain in man's neck in the form of
thickened fascial bands.
The arrangement of the great foramen of the skull that trans-
mits the central axis of the nervous system, the spinal cord, is neces-
sarily different in an animal carrying its head erect. The foramen
would naturally tend to be set forward, more under the center of
gravity, and its inclination would be more nearly horizontal. Here
again we see that the ideally perfect form is more nearly approached
in the civilized races. It is never quite realized, and indeed the
whole skull and its contents evince markedly that they are still
undergoing an evolution. Again the lower races show variations
that unite them with the anthropoids. While a negro may have a
foramen magnum inclined 37® to the horizontal, the orang may fall
to 36^
But it is not only in this way that we get evidence that the erect
position has been gradually acquired. Since gravity plays an im-
portant part in the functions of the visceral and circulatory systems,
any marked change in the line of equilibrium must necessarily be
accompanied by disturbances. These disturbances, to a certain ex-
tent, conflict with the acquirement of the position ; as they weaken
the animal. In the course of time the body may perhaps become
adapted to the changed conditions, but before that perfect adapta-
tion takes place there is a period of struggle. There is abundant
evidence that such a struggle has occurred and is yet going on ; the
adaptation being as yet far from complete.
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310 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The most striking and important of these adaptations concerns
the pelvis. When the erect posture is assumed, the weight of the
viscera being thrown upon this bony girdle, it becomes adapted for
their support by becoming more fixed and dish-like in shape. This
is naturally more pronounced in the female, since with her the pelvis
must bear the additional weight of the pregnant uterus. It is
evident that a solid, unyielding, laterally expanded ring of small
aperture would give the most effective support in the erect position,
but it is equally clear that with any such structure parturition would
be impossible. In the quadruped the act of parturition is compara-
tively easy, the pelvis offering no serious hindrance. The shape of
the female pelvis is therefore the result of a compromise between two
forms — one for support, the other for ease in delivery. When we reflect
that along with the acquirement of the erect position the size of the
head of the child has gradually increased, thus forming still another
obstacle to delivery and to the adaptation which might otherwise
have taken place, we can realize how serious the struggle has been,
and no longer wonder that deaths in child-birth are much more
common in the higher races, and that woman in her entire organi-
zation shows signs of having suffered more than man in the upward
struggle.
In no other animal is there shown such a distinction between the
pelvis of the male and that of the female — a distinction that increases
as we ascend the scale. While the amount of individual variation
is great, we yet see, particularly in the pelvis of the Andaman Island-
ers and of the Polynesian races, distinctly anthropoid characters.
The scanty material at hand indicates that a similar transition
occurred between the modern and prehistoric types. The approx-
imation of the infantile and simian forms is well known.
The pelvis alone does not suffice to support the viscera. In
quadrupeds the whole weight is slung from the horizontal spine by
means of a strong elastic suspensory bandage of fascia, the tunica
abdominalis. The part of this near the thorax has in man entirely
disappeared, being no longer of any use. In the groin it remains
to strengthen the weak points where structures pass out from the
abdominal cavity. That it often is insufficient to withstand the
great pressure is testified by the great prevalence of hernia, another
sign of imperfect adaptation. The frequency of uterine displace-
ments, almost unknown in the quadruped, has also been noted. It
is significant that one of the most effective postures for treating and
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OP MAN. 311
restoring to place the disturbed organ is the so-called " knee-elbow
position/* decidedly quadrupedal in character.
Many other indications are found in the viscera. The urinary
bladder is so arranged in man that any concretions do not gather
near the opening of the urethra where they might be discharged,
but fall back into the cul-de-sac at the base, where they enlarge and
irritate the mucous lining. The caecum, with its vermiform
appendage, a vestigial organ finding its proper functional activity
far below man, is so placed in quadrupeds that the action of gravity
tends to free it from foecal accumulations. In man this is not the
case, and as a consequence inflammation of this organ or its sur-
rounding tissues, very serious and often fatal, is by no means rare.
It may be noted that the ascending colon is obliged to lift its con-
tents against gravity, and that in a lowered state of the system this
might very readily induce torpidity of function.
The gall bladder in quadrupeds also discharges at an advanta-
geous angle. In man, although the difference is slight, it appears to
be sufficient to cause at times retention and consequent inspissation
of the bile, leading to the formation of gall-stones.
The quadruped's liver hangs suspended from the spine, but as
the erect attitude is assumed it depends more and more from the
diaphragm. The diaphragm in its turn develops adhesions with the
fibrous covering of the heart, which is continuous with the deep
fascia of the neck, so that in effect the liver hangs suspended from
the top of the thorax and base of the skull. This restricts in S9me
degree the action of the diaphragm and confines the lungs. This
must have an effect upon the aeration of the blood, and consequently
upon the ability to sustain prolonged and rapid muscular exertion.
An extra lobe of the right lung that in animals intervenes, either
constantly or during inspiration, between the heart and the dia-
phragm, is occasionally found in a vestigial state in man.
The vascular system abounds in evidences that it was primarily
adapted to the quadrupedal position. By constant selection for
enormous periods of time the vessels have become located in the best
protected situations. It is scarcely possible to injure a vessel of any
size in an animal without deeply penetrating the body or passing
quite through a limb. In man, on the contrary, several great
trunks are comparatively exposed, notably the great vessels of the
thigh, those of the fore-arm, and of the ventral wall.
The influence that gravity has upon the circulation is well known.
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312 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
The horizontal position of the great venous trunks favors the easy
flow of blood to the heart without too greatly accelerating it. Man,
in whom these trunks are vertical, suffers thereby from two
mechanical defects — the difficulty of raising blood through the
ascending vena cava, whence come congestion of the liver, cardiac
dropsy, and a number of other disorders, and the too rapid delivery
through the descending cava, whence the tendency to syncope
or fainting if for any cause the action of the heart is lessened.
Clevenger's admirable discovery that the valves of the veins are
arranged for a quadrupedal position should also be mentioned here.
Evidently intended to resist the action of gravity, they should, to
be effective, be found in the large vertical trunks. But in the most
important of these they are wanting ; hence are caused many dis-
orders arising from hydrostatic pressure, such as varicose veins,
varicocele, haemorrhoids, and the like. Yet they occur in several
horizontal trunks, where they are, as far as we know, of no use
whatever. Place man on all fours, however, and it is seen that the
entire system of valves is arranged with reference to the action of
gravity in that position. The great vessels along the spine and the
portal system being then approximately horizontal do not require
valves, while all the vertical trunks of considerable size, even the
intercostal and jugular veins, are provided with them. A confirma-
tion of this view is found in the fact that the valves are variable in
character and tend to disappear in the veins where they are no
longer needed.
Every animal possessing a back -bone may be said to consist of a
series of disc-like segments, arranged on a longitudinal axis. These
segments are originally similar in character, but become specially
modified in innumerable ways to meet the needs of the individual.
Anatomists conclude, upon surveying the whole field, that this
indicates a derivation of the vertebrates from some form of the
annelid worms, among which a single unit produces by successive
budding a compound longitudinal body. This view is fully con-
firmed by the behavior of the human embryo.
The number of the segments varies considerably, rising sometimes
to as nuny as three hundred in some fishes and reptiles, and being
generally greater in the animals below man. There are many
indications, however, that in man, segments formerly possessed have
disappeared. Leaving the skull for the present out of account,
there are in the adult thirty-three or thirty-four vertebrae that may
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. ^890.] THE ASCENT OF MAN. 313.
be held to represent these segments ; the additional vertebra, when
it occurs, almost invariably belonging to the coccygeal or caudal
series. In the human embryo thirty-eight segments can at one time
be made out. Four or five of these generally disappear, but cases
are by no means wanting in which they remain until after birth and
constitute a well-marked free tail. In one case, carefully examined ^
and described by Lissner, a girl of twelve years had an appendage
o( this character 12.5 centimeters long. Other observers, probably
less careful and exact, report much greater lengths. From some
observations it would appear that abnormities of this kind may be
transmitted from parent to offspring.
Dr. Max Bartels recently collected from widely scattered litera-
ture reports of 116 actually observed and described cases of tailed
men. In 35 instances authors reported such abnormities to be
possessed by an entire people, they themselves having observed cer-
tain individuals. These cases are scattered throughout the whole
of the known globe and extend back for a thousand years. When
we consider that the authenticity of many cases is beyond question,
and that the number that escaped accurate observation and report
must be much greater, we can see that we are not dealing with so
rare a phenomenon as would at first be supposed.
Other regressive structures are abundant in this region. The
spinal cord in its earlier state extended the entire length of the
vertebral canal. In the child at birth it occupies only 85 per cent,
of that length ; in the adult 75 per cent. This is due mainly to the
more rapid growth of the spine. There stretches, however, from
the lower end of the cord down to the very end of the spine a
small thread-like structure, the filum terminale, a degenerated vestige
of the lower caudal part of the spinal cord. Wiedersheim suggests
that the frequent occurrence of degenerative disorders in the lower
end of the adult cord may be due to a pathological extension of
the normal atrophy. Rauber found in this region traces of two
additional pairs of spinal nerves. The vessel that runs down in
front of the sacrum and coccyx corresponding to the caudal artery
of quadrupeds shows signs of a former more extensive distribution,
as it ends in a curiously convoluted structure known as the coccygeal
gland, containing vestiges of vascular and nervous tissues. Traces
of caudal muscles still remain, notably the ischio-coccygeus, which
in animals moves the tail sideways, and the anterior and posterior
sacro-coccygeus, for flexing and extending it. Occasionally the
40
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314 THE AMERICAN ANTHROP0TXK3IST. [Vol. III.
agitator caudae is found as a muscular slip passing from the femur to
the coccyx. These muscles cannot be of any value in man, as the
coccyx is practically immovable. At the point where the end of
the spine was primarily attached to the skin a dimple is formed by
regressive growth, and here the direction of the hairs also shows an
.aborted organ.
Another interesting condition connected with segmentation is
the varying number of ribs. Most mammals have more ribs than
man, and as we descend in the scale they continue to increase. A
study of development indicates that a rib is probably to be considered
as an integral portion of a vertebra. As the arch of a vertebra en-
closes the central nervous system, so the ribs enclose the visceral
system. If this be correct they ought to be found throughout as
far as the body cavity extends. This is really the case. They exist
in the neck as the anterior bars of the transverse processes, in the
loins as the transverse or costal processes themselves, in the sacrum
welded together into what are known as the lateral masses. A great
number of considerations derived from comparative anatomy, from
embryology, and from variations found in the adult combine to
support these conclusions.
Nothing would seem less likely at first sight than that the capa-
cious expanded brain-case or skull with its complicated structure
should be composed of segmental pieces like the vertebrae ; yet
there is no doubt that the poet Goethe was on the right track when
he made that important generalization. The details of the segmen-
tation are very far from being worked out, but a vast amount of
evidence indicates that the general conclusion is correct.
Since the predominant necessity in the construction of the skull
is to afford a protection for the brain, we need not be surprised to
find that it is very greatly nK)dified in man. Enormous labor has
been bestowed upon craniology in an attempt to separate definitely
the races of men as well as to connect them with the lower forms.
The success fh establishing races has not been such as was antici-
pated. A constant intergrading of forms defies all attempts at a
hard and fast classification. We also see types that intergrade be-
tween anthropoids and man, and find abundant evidence that the
human skull was derived from a form similar to that of still lower
mammals.
At first man's skull seems to be much simpler than the typical
form. The bones are fewer and less complicated. But follow back
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OF MAN. . 315
the course of development and we find the bones separating — the
frontal into two pieces, the occipital and temporal each into four,
the sphenoid into eight, repeating what we find as we descend the
vertebrate scale.
Many of these peculiarities may remain throughout life. Such
are the interparietal bone, found very frequently in ancient Peru-
vian and Arizonian skulls ; the division of the frontal and temporal
bones each into two, the persistence of the intermaxillary bones
and of that division of the cheek or malar bone known as the os
japonicum. Even cleft palate, a deformity and defect in man,
merely reproduces a state natural to some of the lower mammals.
There are also present structures that are homologous with the
so-called visceral arches represented in the thorax by ribs. Such
are the lower jaw, the hyoid bone, and the thyroid cartilage. A
study of the embryo shows us that these are portions of a series of
bars primitively arranged on the plan of the branchial apparatus of
the water-breathing vertebrates. Each bar has its appropriate skele-
ton and vascular supply, and is separated from the contiguous ones
by a cleft that at first passes entirely through the soft tissues and
communicates with the primitive visceral cavity. These clefts may
persist and cause serious deformities. The skeleton of the man-
dibular and hyoid bars is remarkable as containing indications of
elements present in the lower vertebrates. In fishes the lower jaw
articulates with a large bone apparently not found in mammals, but
on tracing carefully the development of the mammalian skull it is
found that this bone is represented by the incus, one of the minute
ossicles of the ear. In the foetus the primitive lower jaw, in the
shape of a bar of cartilage, actually extends into the ear cavity and
the upper end of it remains as the malleus. Relics of the hyoid or
second branchial arch are also found — the styloid process of the
temporal bone being one of them.
The capacity of the cranium is usually held to distinguish man
remarkably, yet the lowest microcephali approach the apes in this
respect, and the lower races have unquestionably smaller brains than
the higher. As far as can be judged, there has also been an increase
in average capacity during historic times.* One fact pointed out by
Gratiolet is very significant. In monkeys and in the inferior races
the ossification of the sutures commences at the anterior part of the
head, while in Europeans these sutures are the last to close. This
would indicate a greater and longer continued increase of the
frontal lobes of the brain.
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316 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. 111.
The same remarks may be made concerning the facial angle
and prognathism. While by none of the different angles pro-
posed have we been able to definitely separate distinct races, yet
we find that the angle of the lower races and of microcephali
approaches that of the anthropoids, and that as the capacity of the
skull has increased the jaw has been thrust back under it to supjKjrt
the weight. This shortening of the jaw gives the characteristic ex-
pression of the civilized face. We at once recognize a brutal physi-
ognomy by the projection and development of the great masticating
apparatus, used in most animals near man as a formidable weapon
of defense. The shortening has produced some very remarkable
changes. It has shoved the third molar or wisdom tooth so far
back that it is crowded against the ascending part of the jaw,
thereby occasioning disturbance and trouble in its eruption. Being
no longer practically useful, it tends to disappear, and many people
never cut any wisdom teeth. Among the Australasians, on the con-
trary, a fourth molar is not infrequently found, and rarely in Euro-
pean skulls. Evidences also exist of a lost incisor in the upper jaw
on each side. Dental follicles form for it and usually abort, but
occasionally the tooth appears fully developed in the adult. The
great canines or eye-teeth, used in apes and other animals for tear-
ing and holding, are in them longer and larger than the other teeth,
and room is made for them in the opposite jaw by leaving an inter-
val, called the diastema, between the canine and the tooth next to
it. These large projecting canines have disappeared in the normal
human skull and the diastema has accordingly dosed up. Yet it is
by no means uncommon to see the whole arrangement reappear,
especially in low-type skulls. Projecting canines or **snag teeth**
are so common in low faces as to be universally remarked, and
would be oftener seen did not dentists interfere and remove them.
It may be noted also that the muscle that lifts the lip from over the
canines and bares the weapon often reappears in man and is used
in snarling and disdainful expressions.
Many details of structure of the skull point in the same direction.
Occasionally the occipital bone has a third condyle as in some other
mammals or a large lateral projection like that of a vertebra, the
paramastoid process, or indications of a separate centrum {os dasioti-
cum of Albrecht). It may have interiorly a hollow {fosseUe ver-
mienne) for the vermiform process of the cerebellum, and exteriorly
a large transverse ridge (Jorus occipitalis) for the insertion of the
muscles of the nape. All these peculiarities are more frequent as
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OF MAN. 317
we descend the scale, whether we regard the lower races of man,
microcephalic individuals, or lower animals. Like many of these
atavistic features they are also more common among the criminal
I have omitted the discussion of. many important structural features
that mark various stadia in man's ascent. From the muscular system
alone there could be adduced a very great number of instances of the
survival of primitive forms and of progressive variations, particularly
in the development of the muscles of the face and breast. In the
osseous system also there are many such, among which may be men-
tioned the episternal bones, the central bones of the wrist and ankle,
and the os acetabuli. The exact significance of these is still under
discussion, as is also the question of supernumerary digits that some-
times appear on the hands and feet.
Additional instances might be drawn from the visceral system.
The larynx contains small throat pouches like the great air sacs
of the anthropoids. The pharynx of the embryo is lined with
cilia like that of the very lowest vertebrates. Traces of the primi-
tive intestine are shown by the peculiar distribution of nerves and
the folding of the peritoneum. The liver and spleen both occa-
sionally indicate a previous simpler condition, and the intestine has
sometimes diverticula of no functional use— indeed, likely to be dis-
advantageous — yet pointing to a previous state. These anomalies
never occur at random, but can be explained consistently upon the
theory of reversion.
The genito-urinary system abounds in them. The uterus may
have two cavities, as in many quadrupeds, or approach that condition
by being bicornuate, as in apes, and a great variety of other ves-
tigial structures occur, all pointing back to an original neutral con-
dition, before the sexes were differentiated.
In the nervous system there is no lack of instances. Our studies of
the brain are as yet far from complete — indeed, we seem to be only
at the threshold of a reasonable knowledge of the nervous centers —
and the crowd of names, the inextricable maze of synonymy that
now obscures that region is only a mark of our ignorance. It is. a
case of ^^omne ignotumpro mirifico** — ignorant of the true value of
the partis we examine, we have named even the most insignificant
details of structure. Perhaps one of the most interesting results of
modern research is the conclusion that the psychic life of our ances-
tors must have been different from our own, since they possessed
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318 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
organs of sensation differing in degree and probably in kind. The
sense of smell as indicated by the size of the olfactory bulbs of the
brain is decreasing in acuteness. The foetal brain posseses compara-
tively larger bulbs, as do also the brains of lower races and of an-
thropoids. The sense, being no longer required for the preservation
of the species, is slowly becoming dulled. Jacobson's organ, a
curious structure found in many mammals, combining in some
unknown manner the olfactory and gustatory senses, occurs in a
vestigial state in man, and the duct connecting it with the mouth
yet remains as the anterior palatine canal. The pineal and
pituitary bodies of the brain probably represent obliterated sense
organs, the former being an eye, the latter having some connection
with the pharynx. Our other senses have also been modified.
The eye has a rudimentary third eyelid, such as birds and lizards
possess, covered with minute hairs. The external ear shows signs of
derivation from the pointed ear of quadrupeds and abounds in ves-
tigial muscles such as they use for controlling and directing it.
From this rapid sketch it will be apparent to you that the evidence
that man's path upward has led along the same route traveled by
other animals is now very powerful in its cumulative weight. By
no other argument can we satisfactorily explain the bewildering maze
of resemblances ; yet when called upon fix the exact line by which
we have reached our present estate we at once meet with serious diffi-
culties. It is a popular misconception that there has been a regular
chain-like series, with now and then a ** missing link.*' The vari-
ous races of men and the anthropoids are merely one branch of the
great tree Yggdrasil, that overshadows the whole earth and reaches
up into heaven. The individuals that we compare occupy the ter-
minal twigs of that branch, being not related directly but only as
springing from a common stock. The fact that resemblances occur
does not necessarily prove a lineal descent but rather a common
ancestry. The races of man arose far back in prehistoric night.
Each in its own way fought the struggle for existence. Favored
more by climate, the Caucasian appears to have attained an intellect-
ual superiority; yet it should not be forgotten that the others also
excel, each in its own special way. The white races endure with
difficulty the climate of the tropics, and without help would starve
in the Australian bush and the Arctic ice-fields.
Notwithstanding all that I have said concerning reversive char-
acters, we yet have hardly sufficient structural grounds for separating
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] THE ASCENT OP MAN. 319
the races of man. Different varieties of the Caucasian race show
marked variations. Between the lowest and most brutalized labor-
ers and the cultivated and intelligent classes there exist anatomical
differences as great as those which separate the white and the negro.
The rapid change in the African races, remarkably shown in Amer-
ica in the three generations now before us, is a more conclusive
proof of inferiority, as it indicates that they have not had time to
acquire fixed characters.
Again, as to the anthropoids, it is evident that they have widely
diverged from man, and that none represent the primitive ancestor
from which all were derived. The comparison of a human skull
with that of an adult gorilla or chimpanzee is very striking. On
the one hand we see all the structural features subordinated to the
necessity of forming a capacious receptacle for the brain; on the
other, a similar subordination for producing an effective fighting
apparatus — ^jaws, teeth, and ridges for the insertion of powerful
muscles. In one, intelligence predominates; in the other, force.
The skulls of the young of all these species show, however, much
greater resemblances than those of adults. This seems to indicate
that there must have been a primitive common type from which all
have diverged. Savages when ill-fed and living in unfavorable con-
ditions may simulate the habits of anthropoids, and this has an effect
upon their physical structure, yet not on that account should we too
readily accept their close relationship.
In this summary, I have purposely refrained from any discussion of
the physiological phenomena that necessarily accompany anatomical
structure. Yet these are most important. Anatomy and physiology
are inseparable, each being dependent upon the other. The results
of the erect position, of increased size of brain, of greater speciali-
zation of limbs, are almost incalculably great; so great that they
affect the whole life of the animal— control his habitsi, direct his
* actions in war and in the chase, and finally mold peoples, nations,
and races.
As Cuvier was able to deduce an animal's habits from the shape
gf his teeth, so we may speculate as to man's past and future from
an examination of his anatomy. Expede Herculem has not ceased
to be true. It would be impossible for me to adequately treat of
all these results in one short hour; the subject must necessarily be
deferred to another time and another place. If I have succeeded
in showing you that structural features form no insignificant part of
anthropology my object is attained.
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320 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [VoK III.
"Gens** and "Sub-gens/* as expressed in four Siouan Lan-
guages. — The American Anthropologist for April, 1888, contained
an article, ** Meaning of the words for Gens in the Iroquoian and
Algonquian Tongues,*' by Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt. He states that in
nearly all the Iroquoian languages the word for gens also signifies
clay or mud, and he finds a like peculiarity in the Algonquian. This
is not the case with the four Siouan languages under consideration.
In Dakota, gens is o-tsW-ix, fire-place ; hence, one of the names
which the Dakotas have given themselves, O-tshe'-ti sha'-ko-win,
seven fire-places, comprising the seven original gentes, now tribes,
Mdewakantonwan, Wakhpekute, Wakhpetonwan, Sisitonwan, Ihank-
tonwan, Ihanktonwanna, and Titonwan. The sub-gens is ti-o-
shpa-ye, a group of those who camp by themselves.
The Omaha and Ponka call the gens tan'-wan-gdhan u-ba'-nan or
tan'-wan-gdhan u-ba'-te, a village or group of people springing from
a common stock — banan and bate, referring to a clump of trees
springing from a common root or stump. All the gentes are
described as tan'-wan-gdhan ba-nan'-nan, or tan'-wan-gdhan ba-te'-te.
But their terms for sub-gens are tan'-wan-gdhan u-ki'-gdha-sne, a
segment of a village, or, one of the parts into which a stump has been
split (u-ga.-snG), and u-ne'-dhe, afire-place.
The Kansa have the term tan'-man u-ki'-pa-te, sociative in form,
and therefore applicable to the sub-gens rather than to the gens.
The Osage tell of the Tsi'-shu u-tse' pe-dhun'-pa, the Han'ka u-tse'
pe-dhun'-pa, and the Wa-ca'-ce u-tse' pe-dhun'-pa, all twenty-one
gentes being in the Osage nation or confederacy. U-tse means
Are-place, and pe-dhu°-pa seven. There are fully sixty-seven gentes
and sub-gentes among the Osage, that number of names having been
gained, but the name for sub-gens is still unknown to the writer.
Another Osage term for **gens** is u-pa-tse, which corresponds to
the Omaha and Ponka ubate.
The Tciwere tribes (Iowa, Oto, and Missouri) call a gens ki-kra-
tshe, as, Wa-ka"' ki-kra'-tshe, they call themselves {after a) Snake,
The name for sub-gens was not obtained, though each Iowa gens had
four sub-gentes whose names have been recorded (excepting those
of one gens), and there are still sub-gentes in one Missouri gens.
The Winnebago name (or gens is i-ki'-ka-ra' tsha-da, answering to
the Tciwere kikratshe. Hence, Ta'i-ki'-ka-ra'-tsha-da, the Deer gens.
No name for sub-gens has yet been found by the writer, though there
arc sub-gentes in the Bird gens. J. Owen Dorsey.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] ANCIENT SOAPSTONE QUARRY. 321
EXCAVATIONS IN AN ANCIBNT 80AP8T0NB QUARRT
IN THB DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES.
Having completed the examination of the quartzite bowlder quar-
ries on Piny Branch and Rock Creek, it seemed appropriate that
some attention should be paid to the soapstone quarries of the neigh-
borhood. It was hoped that a comparison of the methods of quarry-
ing and manufacture and of the tools used in the two classes of quarries
would throw some light upon the relationships of the peoples con-
cerned and thus aid in the solution of one of the foremost problems
of American archaeology, the antiquity of man's presence here.
Deposits of soapstone occur at a number of points within the
limits of the District of Columbia, but only one locality exhibits
abundant traces of ancient working ; this site is known as the Rose
Hill Quarry and is situated on Connecticut Avenue extended,
four miles from the Executive Mansion and three-fourths of a mile
east of Tennallytown. It is distant about one and one-half miles
from each of the great quartz bowlder quarries recently examined
and partially described in the July number of this journal.
Steatite is of common occurrence over a wide belt of territory ex-
tending through the New England States and continuing down the
Atlantic slope to Alabama. It is associated with the gneissic rocks
and occurs in somewhat disconnected patches or areas, not yet fully
traced by geologists. Outcrops have been worked in hundreds of
places by the aborigines. More recently the whites have mined it
extensively, and many of the quarries worked by the Indians have
been disturbed and traces of the ancient work obliterated. In a
few places observations have been made by scientific men, and many
examples of the tools used and of the articles manufactured have
been collected. The finest and most extensive collection of such
objects is in possession of Mr. J. D. McGuire, of EUicott City,
Md., to whom I am greatly indebted for the privilege of their
examination.
The Rose Hill Quarry seems to have been first studied by Dr. Elmer
R. Reynolds, who published a careful description of the site and of the
41
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322 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
articles collected by himself in the Thirteenth Annual Report of the
Peabody Museum.* About that time visits to the site were made by
Mr. F. H. Gushing, Dr. Charles Rau, Prof. O. T. Mason, and others,
and extensive collections of articles, mainly from the surface of the
ground, were made. Mention is made by Mr. Reynolds of excava-
tions conducted by these gentlemen, but no definite information
upon this point is on record.
A paper published by Louis A. Kengla, in 1883, gives consider-
able additional matter, accompanied by illustrations of fragments of
vessels obtained in the District, f
The present notice is not intended to be an exhaustive study of
the ancient work, as it is desired only to institute a comparison be-
tween these quarries and the other quarries of the District. The
whole subject of the working of soapstone by our aborigines may
well receive separate and exhaustive treatment.
TOPOGRAPHIC AND GEOLOGIC FEATURES OF THE ROSE HILL SITE.
The mass of steatite exposed on this site, being firmer and tougher
than the gneisses with which it is associated, gave rise to a very de-
cided prominence, now separated into two hills by a sharp ravine cut
by the stream. The natural exposures are confined to the bed and
the steeper banks of the stream and to the crests of the hills, which
rise in somewhat conical form — the one on the south side to about
80 feet and the one on the north side to upwards of 90 feet above
the stream.
The northern hill has a rounded, somewhat oblong summit, on
which the steatite is exposed or approaches very near the surface
for a length, nearly north and south, of upwards of 100, and a width
of twenty or thirty feet. The rock seems to be bedded with the
greatest length of the crest and consists of nearly vertical,
more or less massive, layers of steatite. The slopes of the hill
are covered with deposits of clay and vegetable mold, and con-
sequently the formations with which the steatite is surrounded
and interbedded are in no place visible. The whole site is thickly
covered with forest trees and underbrush.
♦ E. R. Reynolds, Thirteenth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum,
p. 526.
t Louis A. Kengla, Archaeology of the District of Columbia, Washington,
1883.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] ANCIENT SOAPSTONE QUARRY. 323
SURFACE INDICATIONS OF THE ANCIENT QUARRIES.
The evidences of ancient pitting are confined chiefly to the sum-
mits of the hills, but no one can say to what extent the exposures of
soapstone in the sides of the ravine were worked. The south bank
of the stream has recently been worked to a considerable depth by
the whites, and the original configuration is destroyed,* but on the
north side there is an obscure but still traceable excavation of very
considerable dimensions that may be at least partially due to abo-
riginal hands.
Pits sunk in the side of the hills would soon be obliterated by de-
bris descending from above, but upon the crests they would neces-
sarily remain clearly marked for a long period of time, as their
obliteration would depend upon the very slow accumulations of
vegetable mold. In any attempt at estimating age, therefore, the
relation of the excavations to the surrounding surface must be con-
sidered with care ; this has already been pointed out in connection
with the quartzite bowlder quarries.
My work has been confined exclusively to the summit of the
northern hill, as the ancient quarries there appear to have re-
mained wholly undisturbed, save by the normal agencies of nature.
A row of pits, forming almost a connected trench, extended along
the crest and for a short distance down the north end of the hill.
There were five well-marked depressions in this series. The out-
lines were irregular. The greatest diameter was perhaps 25 feet and
the greatest depth, save where measured between the lateral ridges
of debris, was not above two feet. Dr. Reynolds mentions one pit
upon the southern hill as being over three feet deep. The heaps
and ridges of debris thrown from the pits by the ancient miners ex-
tended along the sides of the row of pits and were hardly above a
foot in height. This debris consisted for the most part of earth
and irregular fragments of steatite. Among the latter were many
worked pieces — fragments of unfinished vessels and rejects of all
kinds.
Shallow depressions marking the sites of ancient pits occur along
the sides of the crest on the south and west sides of the hill.
EXCAVATIONS.
Operations were commenced by carrying a trench across the
southern pit, which occupies the highest point of the hill. This
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324 THE AMEKICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
exposed the ancient quarry face on the south, east, and west sides ,
while the north edge of the excavation penetrated the full depth of
the ancient quarry, which was here about four feet deep.
Beginning with the deepest part of this first trench, a wide trench
was carried north along the chain of ancient pits. Cross-trenches
were dug at frequent intervals and others were subsequently dug
on the south slope. In all about 500 square feet of the ancient
quarry floors were exposed and cleared off", and a very good idea of
the nature of the ancient quarr)ring was thus obtained. The prin-
cipal pits were worked to a depth of from two to four or five feet
by the aborigines, and the bottoms and sides present the irregular
appearance necessarily produced by prying out such masses of pot-
stone as the quarrymen were able to detach.
IMPLEMENTS USED IN QUARRYING.
As with the quartzite bowlder quarries, little could be learned of
the methods of quarrying. Perhaps wooden, horn, or bone tools
were used to loosen and remove the earth and, with the assistance
of hafted stone implements, to detach and break up the rock.
There is no indication that the potstone was detached by cutting
or picking with pointed tools. The exposed surface seems for the
most part to represent cleavage planes.
SHAPING OF VESSELS.
These ancient quarries were worked exclusively for the purpose of
securing material to be used in vessel-making. The pots were not
shaped in place to be detached by under-cutting after the roughing
out was accomplished, as observed by Schumacher in California.
It would appear that these vessels were usually too wide to permit
of this method of working and detachment. No tool in the posses-
sion of our eastern aborigines would have been equal to such an
undertaking save by immense expenditure of labor ; beside, there
was too much uncertainty as to the cleavage and fracture of the
stone to waste time in shaping before thorough testing by removal.
The block was first secured, then trimmed down to the approximate
size and form, and then hollowed out ready for the finish, which was
in most cases accomplished elsewhere. Even with this method there
were naturally many failures from breaking, from splitting along
partially developed cleavage planes, and from imperfections in tex-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
FlQ.I.
Fia.2.
Fio.3.
Fie. 4.
Fio.5.
Fio.6.
FiQ.7.
Implements used in quarrying and cutting Soapstone, ^ actual size.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
Oct. 1890.] ANCIENT SOAPSTONE QUARRY. 325
ture. It is safe to say that many hundreds of these failures yet remain
upon this site, in the pits, in the piles of debris, and scattered far
down the slopes and along the stream beds.
On account of the rude state of the rejects left upon the quarry
site we cannot in all cases determine the precise character of the
vessel intended. The whole range of steatite utensils employed by
the Algonkian people are probably represented. A prevailing form
is the oblong basin having ear-like projections or handles at the ends.
These incipient vessels are usually shallow. The largest speci-
mens are about 25 inches in length. The width is not more
than half the length and the depth averages perhaps one-half the
width. The rejects are very often unsymmetric and extremely rude.
Other forms, approaching more nearly a circular outline and usually
having greater depth, are common. Roughed out cups of small
size are found in considerable numbers. Handles vary much in size,
shape, and position.
The shop refuse contains illustrations of manufacture beginning
with specimens rejected almost with the first stroke of the shaping
process and ending with vessels so nearly complete as to have been
fitted for use. The best, however, still lack the finishing touches
observed in specimens found on village sites. The first step was
naturally that of testing and reducing the shapeless mass to a rude
approximation of the proportions of the vessel to be made. A
favorable side for the top was chosen and the excavation began,
perhaps by pick strokes outlining the basin, perhaps in cases by
working from the center out toward the rim ; there was probably
no uniform method of procedure.
Tool-marks are much obscured by weathering in specimens found
upon the surface, but in those from a depth they are as fresh as if
made but yesterday. The tool has in cases been poinded or spike-
like, but generally had a rounded cutting edge half an inch or more
in width. This edge was, as a rule, rather rough and uneven, as if of
chipped rather than of polished stone. The character of the strokes
vary a great deal ; in some cases they are bold and professional in
appearance and in others timid and irregular.
There are three ways in which the aboriginal tools could have
been used. The simplest is that of holding the heavy pointed stone
in the hand or hands and thus striking the potstone. Much ix)wer
is gained by hafting the tool and using it as an adz. The length,
boldness, and irregularity of the marks upon the rough pots suggest
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326 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. LVol. III.
this method very strongly. Again, a chisel and mallet may have
been used, after the fashion of the modern stone-cutter. The marks
left by the latter process would assume a more regular arrangement
than observed in the products of this quarry, and they would exhibit
evidence of a succession of blows. There are no chisel-like tools
that bear evidence of use under a hammer or mallet, and we know
of nothing that could have served as a striking tool. I am inclined
' to favor the idea that a hafted tool was used in the roughing out.
One grooved axe only was found, but the ancient quarries of Mary-
land furnish many examples of pick-like forms provided with grooves.
THE TOOLS RECOVERED.
The tools with which the work of quarrying was accomplished
were sought most assiduously. Their character and their relations
to implements found in other localities and applied to other uses
are matters of no little interest to the archaeologist. It was ex-
pected that they would, in a measure at least, correspond to the
tools known to be used by the modern Indians, as many steatite
pots are found upon ordinary village sites. It was to be expected,
however, that tools used in such work would be especially adapted
to it, which is unlike any other industry of the aborigines, and that
they would be in a sense unique ; but there were chances that imple-
ments of well-known forms were used &nd lost upon the site.
The remoteness of the site and the conformation of the hills upon
which the quarries are located rendered it improbable that the lo-
cality was used for dwelling or for any other purpose than that of
quarrying the potstone and roughing, out the vessels. All tools
found should, therefore, be quarry tools.
The absence of bowlder or other deposits of material habitually
utilized by the aborigines gave additionl simplicity to the quarry
art, rendering it reasonably certain that all articles found pertained
to the soapstone work ; that all save those of soapstone had been
carried in by the quarrymen.
As in the case of the quartzite quarries, no tools were found that
could have been used in excavating the pits and detaching the masses
of steatite ; all were adapted rather to the work* of sculpture — to
. the roughing out and shaping of the vessels.
The tools found may be conveniently divided into two classes—
those improvised upon the spot for special and temporary use, and
those of standard varieties brought from the villages and utilized
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Oct. 1890.] ANCIENT SOAPSTONE QUARRY. 327
temporarily in the quarries. A vast majority are of the former class.
They are, as a rule, quite rude and were derived from the vicinity
of the quarry. They approach more nearly a palaeolithic type than
any other forms found in the Potomac region. Nothing more prim-
itive is found in America. The hills and slopes in the vicinity
abound in outcrops of vein quartz which break up into angular frag-
ments. These are now so plentiful upon the neighboring fields as
to make agriculture a burden. Such angular fragments were
gathered for use in the quarries ; some were already well adapted to
use, whilst others were trimmed to better points and edges (Fig. i).
Quartzite bowlders found sparingly upon the neighboring slopes
were also worked into rude picks by flaking (Fig. 2).
A small number of angular masses of quartz were discovered that
were not apparently adapted to any use and that showed no signs of
having been used. They may be fragments of larger masses broken
in use.
A few cobble-stones were found, but none showed very decided
evidence of use as hammer stones, or otherwise.
It is not considered necessary to take further notice of specimens
that do not show decided evidence of design or use, or that by their
natural conformation seem to be especially well adapted to known
uses.
The objects of quartz that sjiow evidence of shaping by percussion
are all of one type. They are thick angular masses weighing a pound
or more ; one end is brought to a short, sharp point, and the other
is somewhat rounded as if to be held in the hand or hands for strik-
ing (Fig. i). Of the same general shape are two picks made from
quartzite bowlders and resembling heavy pointed "turtle-backs**
(Fig. 2.) In no case does the form of these tools suggest the attach-
ment of a haft, although such attachment would probably be feasible
in their present state.
Two small chisel-like tools were found in the main trench on the
summit of the hill. They are of unique types, and we may fairly as-
sume that they were made for use in the potstone shop. One is
made of a black slate-like rock that has become gray on the surface
through oxidation of some of its constituent minerals. In its
general configuration it is much like the quartzite blades produced
in the quarry shops of the District, but it differs from them in hav-
ing a chisel-like point or edge (Fig. 3). This edge is somewhat ob-
lique and shows but little evidence of use, although it should be ob-
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328 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
served that chemical changes in the stone would tend to obliterate
such evidence.
Another specimen (Fig. 4) is of gray slate, very slightly altered
by chemical changes. It is rather rudely chipped along both sides,
and the point has been made quite sharp by grinding and subsequent
use. Properly hafted this little celt would have been a very effective
tool in shaping the half-finished vessels. As it stands it is rather
small for convenient use. Possibly it may have been hafted after
the manner of an ordinary stone knife. Tools of this class are
abundant on the quarry sites of Maryland and Virginia. They reach
nearly a foot in length, and in cases have a polished chisel-like point
at each end.
From the soil that filled one of the shallow pits on the south
margin of the crest of the hill, a chipped quartzite tool of unusual
shape was obtained (Fig. 5). It resembles the borers or perforators
of the same material found on village sites, but is ruder and less
symmetrical and was probably made especially for use in the trim-
ming of soapstone vessels.
One of the most important finds made during the excavation at
this place was a large grooved axe of the wedge-hafted type (Fig. 6).
It was found in one of the shallow pits on the south margin of the
hill-top, one foot from the surface, and resting upon the surface of
the soapstone in place. There can be little doubt that this tool was
used by the ancient quarrymen in dislodging, and perhaps in trim-
ming, the masses of stone. Its edge shows considerable wear, ap-
parently from use as a pick. Its weight and shape would make it a
very effective tool. If proof were necessary that the workers of
these quarries were Indians, the discovery of this object would seem
to be satisfactory. Surface finds upon the sites of ancient soapstone
quarries in Maryland include many of these grooved axes. In most
cases they have been remodeled by flaking to fit them more perfectly
for use as picks (Fig. F).
CONCLUSION.
The question in this connection that claims first attention is what
correlations can be made between the soapstone quarries and the
quartzite bowlder quarries of the District. Are they all probably of
one age and the work of one people, or are they separated by long
periods of time and by marked differences in art characters?
It may be first observed that the two classes of quarries are lo-
cated in the same valley and only one and one-half miles apart ; that
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] ANCIENT SOAPSTONE QUARRY. 329
they correspond as closely in extent of work and in appearances as
could be expected if worked at one time and by one people.
There are striking dissimilarities, but these are due to differences in
the nature of the materials quarried and the relation of the quarries
to adjoining formations.
It appears that the soapstone was not quarried to a depth equal to
that of the quartzite bowlders, but it will be seen at a glance that
the difficulties attending the working of the former are much the
greater. With increasing depth the soapstone becomes firmer and
more massive, and it is impossible with primitive tools to detach the
necessary masses. The shafts must therefore necessarily be shallow
With the bowlders the difficulty does not increase with the depth in
the same degree, and greater depths could be reached with compara-
tive ease.
Again, it must be admitted that the bowlder quarries exhfbit more
decided evidenpe of great age than do the soapstone quarries. In
the former the pits are much more completely filled up and oblit-
erated. This fact may, however, tend to lead to erroneous conclu-
sions if the conditions under which the two classes of pits existed
are not considered.
The deepest soapstone pits were not over four or five feet deep,
but they were excavated in solid rock and upon the crests of hills,
where there was absolutely no material to fall into them save the
leaves from the trees. Such ancient pits as were not upon the sum-
mits were entirely or almost entirely filled up.
Tl\p cobble pits on Piny Branch were in all cases situated upon
the slope of the hills, and were therefore directly beneath overhanging
masses of loosely compacted sands and gravels and may have been
more completely filled up in one year than the soapstone pits in a
century.
On the other cobble quarry site, near the new observatory, some
of the pits situated upon the hill-top and originally eight feet deep
-^ were not more than ten inches deep when first examined by us, but
when we observe that the walls of these pits were composed of coarse
loose gravel capped with sandy clay we must conclude that the
chances are that they would be obliterated very much more rapidly
than if the walls consisted of tough massive stone.
The character of the two sites corresponds very closely in this
that both are in the hills and so steep as to be quite unsuited fo^
camping or dwelling. Both are therefore naturally free from village
42
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330 THE AMKRICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
refuse, and the tools found must for the most part, if not exclusively,
consist of those actually used in the work of quarrying and roughing
out the implements produced. In neither case has any tool been
found that is not germane to the work of the quarries, and this cor-
respondence is most significant, as archaeologists will readily appre-
hend.
In the cobble quarries no tools of a durable material were needed
save those found by thousands in the quarries. Carefully shai^ed
hammer stones, polished celts, and grooved axes had no place in these
quarries ; no more place, as I have shown, had the finished tools of
the classes here roughed out. A grooved axe, such as that found
in the soapstone quarry, would be an effective tool in the work of
quarrying soapstone, and it could be used without the least danger
of breaking it. The chisels also are of types that resemble or-
dinary Indian work, but they also were especially adapted to, and
no doubt especially made for, the quarrying of soapstone.
The only tools, then, that correlate the workers of these soapstone
quarries with the Indian were not carried in aimlessly and lost, but
were lost because there in use. It will not, therefore, be safe to say
that because no traces of ordinary Indian tools were found in the
bowlder quarries the workers in these quarries were not Indians, for
I have amply shown that such tools could not have been used, and
hence they would stand small chance of being lost there. It may be
emphatically stated that in none of the quarries has any trace of art
been found th^t did not, pertain directly to the work of the quarry.
If the correlation of the Indian with the workers in the soapptone
quarries was necessarily dependent upon the loss of articles not ger-
mane to the work of the quarry, no such correlation could be made
by any known evidence.
The nature of the work of shaping done in both classes of quar-
ries has a close and significant correspondence. No single finished
piece of work was found in either case. In the cobble quarries the ^^^
blade was roughed out to a convenient shape for transportation anS^^^
subsequent finish. In the soapstone quarries the pots were-roughecr
out and carried away to be finished elsewhere. It is significant also
that on many village sites in the vicinity quarry products of both
materials are found freely and intimately associated.
A review, therefore, of the evidence shows many significant cor-
respondences in the work of the two classes of quarries and no dis-
agreements that require the assumption of wide differences in time,
people, or culture.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] WRITING MATERIALS AND BOOKS. 331
WRITING MATERIALS AND BOOKS AMONO THB
ANCIBNT ROMANS.
BY A. P. MONTAGUE.
The subject may be logically divided into the following heads :
I. The materials used as paper.
II. The ink.
III. The pen or pencil.
IV. Books.
I. The Materials used as paper or in the place of paper were —
(i). The thin rind of the Egyptian papyrus.
(2). Parchment made of skins.
(3). Wooden tablets covered with wax.
(i). In the most common use, especially in the writing of books,
was the thin coat or rind {liper; whence the Latin word for " book '*)
of the Egyptian papyrus. The Egyptian name of the plant from
which the rind was taken was Byblos (Greek ?(i?hi^\ whence pofiXiov^
fitfiXiov, "book").
This papyrus plant or tree, found in swamps in many tropical
countries, and especially in the valley of the. Nile, grows to the height
of ten or twelve feet. We learn (Plin., Ndf. Histy XIII., 23) that
different pieces of the rind, having been wetted in the water of the
Nile, which, according to eminent authorities, has a glutinous prop-
erty, were joined together; a layer of these pieces was placed flat
on a board and a cross layer put over it; these were pressed together
and afterwards exposed to the sun to be dried. These individual
sheets were from 8 to 14 inches high and from 3 to 12 inches wide,
^t one time the ancients wrote upon these sheets and then pasted
them together at the sides in regular order ; but in Pliny's time (A.
D. 23-79) rolls of sheets pasted together ready for the writer were
sold. In writing books an author could continue this pasting pro-
cess until he made a book which occupied sheets stretching, when
laid out, at least fifty yards, and there are Egyptian papyri rolls pre-
sented which are actually of this length. Dr. O. T. Mason of the U.
S. National Museum informs the writer that he saw recently at Leyden
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332 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. HI.
a roll of papyrus sheets fifty yards in length. But Roman authors us-
ually divided a long work into several rolls, as a large book, if written
on one roll, would have required pasted sheets extending 90 yards or
more. Calliraachus, the poet and librarian of 250 B. C, said fiir^
fiijSXiov ixiya xaxdv^ "a large book, a large nuisance.** When the
writing was finished and the sheets had been pasted, a stick was fas-
tened to the last sheet and all the sheets were rolled into what was
termed a volumen {volvo, volvere, '* to roll up; ** compare the Eng.
volume). This roll made a cylinder, and the top and bottom were
generally stained black. To the ends of the stick, called umbilici^
were added knobs, comua, which were highly ornamented. It
should also be noted that the ends of the sheets were carefully
trimmed and polished with pumice stone. The title of the book was
written in red color on a piece of pap)rrus or parchment {titulus or
index) which was attached to the volumen. It was the custom to
then steep the roll in cedar-oil {cedrus) and to place it in a parch-
ment case stained purple or yellow. The poet Martial (40-102 A.
D.) calls this dress in which the book was covered "a purple toga**
(^purpurea toga, — Mart., X, 93). Seneca {DeTranq, Animiy 9) and
Martial (XIV., 186) inform us that the .portrait of the author was
often placed on the first page of the book. The ancient reader
held the roll or book in his right hand, using his left hand to
unwind as he read and to re-roll the part finished. Books were
often kept in boxes called capsce, generally cylindrical in shape, made
usually of beech-wood. There were also scrinia, "chests** or
"boxes,** rn which books, letters, papers, etc., were kept.
Long before the time of Herodotus (B. C. 484), as we learn from
that author himself (V., 58), the Egyptian papyrus was known to
the commercial world. He wrote as follows: "Moreover, the
lonians, from ancient time, call books made (even) from papyrus
parchments, because formerly, from the scarcity of papyrus, they
used the skins of goats and sheep; and even at the present day
many of the barbarians write on such skins.**
That papyrus was widely used in the western part of Europe we
know, not only from reference in Latin authors but from the . fact
that many rolls of papyri were found at Herculaneum, and that
paintings of them were discovered at Pompeii. Prof. Gow, an
eminent Cambridge scholar, states that a few fragments of Homer,
Thucydides, Euripides, and Sallust are extant on broken papyrus
leaves or sheets.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] WRITING MATERIALS AND BOOKS. 333
The paper (charid) made from the papyrus was of different grades
or qualities. The finest was called after the Emperor Augustus, the
second grade after his wife Livia, the third was termed Hieratica
(7e/9aTtx<J9, "devoted to sacred pyrposes"), because it was used in
sacred writings, originally in those of Egyptian priests. As the
manufacturers or the dealers were politic men, and believed in making
their positions strong with the powers that were, we hear later on
that the best paper was called after Claudius, the Emperor. One
kind, called Emporetica (^^finopto^^ belonging to commerce or mer-
chant5)y not being suitable for writing paper, was used by merchants
to wrap parcels.
(2). Parchment made of skins.
Parchment {membrana) is said by some writers to have been in-
vented by Eumenes II. (B. C. 2)53), King of Pergamus, a city of
Mysia, now Bergamo^ but this is clearly an error, because more than
two centuries before Herodotus alluded, as we have seen, to skins
as in use before his time and common in his day. Eumenes II. un-
doubtedly introduced some improvements in preparing skins for
writing purposes while he was engaged in collecting and maintain-
ing his great library of 200,000 volumes, afterwards given by Antony
to Cleopatra and carried to Alexandria to form a part of the wonder-
ful library there. The word parchment is derived from Fergamina,
'' belonging to Pergamus," as at that city sheep skin and goat skin
had probably their first distinctive use as materials in writing books.
Eumenes was led, it is related (Plin., Nat. Hist.y XIII, 21), to use
and improve skins as paper by the fact that Ptolemy Epiphdnes,
King of Egypt, fearing that Pergamus would rival Alexandria as the
book centre of the world, had forbidden the export of papyrus.
Parchment and papyrus sheets seem to have been almost the only
materials upon which books were written among the Romans, the
former coming into use for books (having previously been used for
note-books) about 90, A. D., and gradually taking the place of
papyrus. Prof. Lewis Evans, of Oxford, the scholarly translator of
the satires of Juvenal, Persius, and Lucilius, says : *' The manufact-
urer of parchment was termed Membranarius, The parchment,
after being rendered smooth by rubbing with pumice, was flattened
with lead \ and it was capable of being made so thin that the whole of
the * Iliad ' written on this material, was inclosed within a walnut-
shell ! ' ' Quintilian (X. , 3) writes : * * For persons of weak sight parch-
ment is much better (than waxen tablets) ; but the rapid flow of
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334 THE AMERICAN ANTUROPOLOGIST. . [Vol. III.
thought is checked by the constant necessity for dipping the pen in
ink. Parchment sheets were pasted together and rolled in the same
manner as those made from the papyrus plant. Parchment pos-
sessed certain advantages over papyrus, in that it was thicker and
writing could be placed on both sides, though, originally, the back
of the parchment was not used and was stained a saffron color ; it
was more durable, as papyrus was apt to be broken ; and the same
piece could be used several times. This fact gave rise to the singular
custom of erasing or washing out the writing on parchment and of
using it as new material. Parchment thus washed was termed palimp-
sesfus ("scraped again "), palimpsest. In reference to this custom
Cicero (^Ad Fam.^ VII., i8, 2) writes his lawyer friend, Trebatius,
as follows : " I commend your economy because you (wrote) on
palimpsest ; but I wonder what was on that little piece of paper
which you were willing to destroy rather than not write this (letter \
lit., these things) to me, unless (it was) perchance your own legal
forms. I can't think that you are destroying my letters in order
that you may put yours (on the paper).'* In other words Cicero
wondered what could be less important than a friendly letter.
Several remarkable facts are given by Dr. Gow in connection
with this custom. The monks of the Middle Ages, in their desire
to write the lives of their saints, washed and scraped old parchments
which had fallen into their hands. Traces of original writing were
long afterwards discerned under and between their lines, and, by
the use of certain chemical preparations these first writings were
brought out so that they were capable of being deciphered.
In 1 81 6 Niebuhr came upon a MS. at Verona which contained
certain writings of Jerome. Detecting marks of an older writing,
he went to work and soon restored the ancient MS., which proved
to be the famous legal treatise of Gains, called "The Institutes,"
which had long been considered lost and had been for many years
known only through references of other authors. Strange to .say,
about one-fourth of this entire MS^ had been scraped before ^ and thus
it was doubly palimpsest, (See Goschen, Report to the Academy of
Berlin, Nov. 6th, 181 7.)
The best MS. of Plautus was found at Milan underneath portions
of the Old Testament ; a part of Livy was found to be covered with
the " Moralia ' ' of Gregory the Great. Late Greek MSS. of classical
authors have been found covering portions of the Bible. A MS. of
Sophocles, copied in 1 298, overlay an uncial MS. of the Septuagint.
This MS. is now preserved at Florence.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] WRITING MATERIALS AND BOOKS. 335
Parchment leaves were often bound together and sewed at the back
into a binding in the modern way. Such a book was at one time
called codex ot^caudexy although this word had earlier and later
meanings, which will be given.
As guides to the writer's pen, lines were drawn with lead on the
parchment and these left faint impressions.
(3). Wooden Tablets covered with wax. The word tabula means
properly '^planks" or "boards/* then gaming-tables, pictures, etc.;
but its most general meaning in ancient Rome was tablets used for
writing. It referred to tablets of any kind, stone, metal, or wood,
nearly always the last. These tabulcBy in this sense, were pieces of
wood, generally beech or fir, sometimes citron-wood (even ivory
was used occasionally), covered with wax, in shape oblong. The
outer sides of these tablets were of wood, only the inner sides being
covered with wax. The two pieces of wood were fastened at the
back with wires as hinges and could be opened and shut like our
books. To prevent the wax of one tablet from rubbing against that
of the other there was a raised margin around each.
Certain tablets oAXtApugillareSy ixom pugillus, **a handful," were
very small and took their name from the fact that they could be held
in the hand. Pliny the Younger in a letter (I. 6) to the historian
Tacitus writes that he went on a wild-boar hunt, but that he took no
spear or lance, only the hunting-nets and his pencil and hand-tablets,
on which he diligently wrote while waiting for the boar to run into
his nets. He urges the great historian to take along on his hunting
expeditions a bread-basket and a little bottle, and not to forget the
note-books, assuring him that he will find that Minerva keeps Diana
company in the forests and mountains. These waxen tablets were
used for almost any purpose when great length was not desired.
Their chief use was in correspondence. When the writer had com-
pleted a letter, he bound the tablets together with a strong thread,
which he tied in a flat knot, upon which he placed wax and then
stamped this with the device on his signet-ring (signum). When
letters were written by secretaries — the usual way — this was the only
signature.
As is seen in an ancient painting of Love {Amor) giving a letter
to Polyphemus, love-letters, called vitellianiy were written on tiny
tablets (Martial, XIV. 8). Waxen tablets were also used in writing
wills and other legal documents, and, when so used, the outer edges
were pierced with holes, through which a triple thread was passed.
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336 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
upon which a seal was put. This was done to guard against forgery,
and any legal paper, especially a will, not thus secured was worthless*
Among the many other uses of these tablets may be mentioned that
of keeping accounts of sums received and disbursed. The term
codex (or caudex) was applied to these tablets when bound together.
In Cicero's time this name was also given to a tablet on which was
written a bill to be offered to a voting body. Under the Emperors
codex was used for any collection of laws (Cf. Eng. code)^ as the
Codex Justinianius,
There is an interesting account of two ancient waxen tablets in
an excellent state of preservation found in gold mines in and near
the village of Abrudbdnya, in Transylvania. These tabula consist
of three tablets each. One is of fir- wood, the other of beech -wood,
each about the size of a small octavo. The outer parts are of plain
wood ; the inner are covered with wax, now grown almost black,
and have raised margins. The middle tablet, also with raised
margins, is covered with wax on both sides. The edges are pierced
for the thread. On one of these tablets are 'some Greek letters, fol-
lowed by certain unknown characters. The other tablet contains
writing in Latin, which refers to some business connected with a
collegium (**body '* or "corporation "). The date, given by con-
suls, is 169 A. D. It is written from right to left, the writing be-
ginning on what we would call the 4th page and ending at the bot-
tom of the 3d. These waxen tablets had, in addition to the name
tabulcB, the appellation of cerce, and the pages were called prima
ceray secunda cera, etc., " ist page'* (or "leaf'*), " 2d page," etc.
Waxen tablets were used in Europe in the Middle Ages. The
oldest of these mediaeval tablets, of which we know, belongs to the
year 1301 A. D. It is now in the Florentine Museum.
It may be added that some late MSS., mostly in Greek, are writ-
ten on paper, a Chinese invention, brought to Europe by the Arabs
of Spain. Paper made of cotton was called bombycina ; linen
paper, charta (Gow).
n. — ^THE INK.
The first mention of Ink among the Romans is made by Plautus
(254-184 B. C.) in his play called "The Ghost " (^Mostellana, Act
I., sc. III., 102), where he has an ironical reference to the attempt to
make ivory white with ink. The next author who mentions ink is
Cicero (106-43 B. C), who, in a letter to his brother {Ad Quint,
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] WRITING MATERIALS AND BOOKS. 337
Fr,y 11., 15) says : ** The matter will be discussed with a good pen,
well-prepared ink, and smooth paper. * * * I am in the
habit of using whatever pen comes into my hand, as if it were a
good one." An eminent scholar of Cambridge, England, whose
researches have been careful and valuable, informs us that the ink
used in writing on papyrus was made of lamp-black and gum, and
that for parchment of gum and oak-galls. Pliny writes of the mak-
ing of ink in his time as follows : '' It is made of soot in various
ways with burned resin or pitch ; for this purpose they have built
furnaces that do not permit the escape of smoke."
He also states that a kind of ink was made by boiling and strain-
ing the dregs of wine. This author further states that mice were kept
from manuscripts if they were written with ink with which worm-
wood had been mixed. There can be no question as to the excel-
lence of the ink used among ancient nations, when we read in the
report of the British Museum on Egyptian Antiquities (Vol. II., p.
267) the statement that the color and brightness of Egyptian ink re-
main to this day, as is attested by certain specimens of their papyri,
and when we recall the fact that at Herculaneum was found an ink-
stand containing ink which had become as thick as oil, but which
could be used at the time of discovery (Winckelmann, Vol. II., p.
127).
The satirist Persius (III., 13 et seq,), writing of the troubles of
a teacher with his pupil, says: " Now his book and the two-colored
parchment cleared of hair, and paper and the knotty reed are taken
into his hands. Then he complains that the ink, grown thick, clogs
in his pen ; then that the black ink disappears altogether if water
is poured into it; then that the reed makes blots with the drops
being diluted." From this quotation we learn two facts: that the
Romans cleared and thinned their ink by pouring in water, and that
the black matter emitted by the cuttle-fish, called sepia, was some-
times used as ink (Leverett's Juvenal oxid Persius, p. 239 ; Cicero,
De Nat, Deorum, II., 50). The ancient Romans had, in addition to
black ink, red ink made of minium or red lead, a pigment consist-
ing of two atoms of the protoxide of lead and the peroxide, which
was used in writing the titles and beginnings of books. Ink made
of rubrica (** red ochre," hematite) was also used for these purposes,
and in post-Augustan times, as this rubrica ink was used in writing
the headings of laws, the law itself was termed rubrica, "rubric "
(Quint., XII., 3). Roman Emperors and their near relatives wrote
43
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338 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
their signatures with an expensive red ink which the law forbade
others to use. If the Emperor was under age his guardian wrote
with green ink. Dion Cassius tells us that Crassus, in his ill-starred
expedition against the Parthians, had his banners marked with letters
of purple ink. Cicero in his fourth Verrian oration and Suetonius
in his ** Life of Augustus" inform us that letters of gold and silver,
or, more probably, letters covered with gilt and silver, were placed
on pillars and monuments. Suetonius in the "Life of Nero'* men-
tions the fact that one part of the poems which Nero recited at Rome
was written in gilt letters. The Romans had also an invisible or
sympathetic ink, which could be brought out only by heat or by the
application of some chemical preparation. Ovid {Art, Am, , IIL, 627
et seq,) said that lovers might use fresh milk as their ink ; that this
would be invisible until brought out by the sprinkling of coal-dust.
Pliny says that the milky sap of certain plants may be used in the
same way. From the specimens found at Pompeii we know the
shape and appearance of the ancient ink-stand {atramentariuin).
These specimens are both single and double, one well for black ink
and the other for ink of some other color, probably red. In shape
they are round or hexagonal. They have covers to keep out dust.
III. — ^THE PEN OR PENCIL.
Cicero in a letter to Atticus (VI., 8) and Horace in the 447th line
of his **Ars Poetica" refer to the pen which the Romans used with
papyrus and parchment. It was termed calamus {Kalaiw^') and was,
as Dr. Gow says, of the same form as our old-fashioned quill pen.
We learn from Pliny {Nat, Hist,, XVI., 36, 64) and Ausonius that
the best reeds from which these pens were made came from Egypt
and Gnidus, a Doric city of Caria, When the pen became blunt it
was sharpened with a knife made especially for this purpose, called
scalprum librarium. The pen was split like our pens, and hence the
name calamus fissipeSy "cloven-footed pen*' or '*reed'' (Ausonius,
VII., 49). This reed is even now, Professor Evans says, used as a
pen in the East. For use with waxen tablets the Romans had an
iron instrument called stilus {ypatpiov), sharpened at one end for
scratching on the wax, flat and circular at the other end for erasing,
when it was desired, what had been written. Ovid and Suetonius
tell us that this stilus was called graphlum (Greek ypatpiov) and from
Martial (XIV., 21) we learn that it was placed, when not in use, in
a case. called graphiarium.
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Oct. 1890.] WRITING MATERIALS AND BOOKS. 339
IV. — BOOKS.
From the time of Cicero there was a regular trade in books. Dr.
Gow is the authority for the statement that the publisher either paid
the author a royalty on each copy sold or gave him a fixed sum for
the book. When a book was likely to be in demand, the author's
copy was dictated to a large number of copyists (Jibrarii) at once,
1000 copies sometimes being made. These copyists were slaves and
often foreigners ; hence many mistakes were made which sorely tried
the patience of the author. Cicero, Strabo, Martial, and others
complain of these blunders. The author himself often revised
copies made by scribes, especially when he desired to present his
books to friends. Booksellers (pidiiopdla) had stores in many parts
of Rome, but especially in a section called Argiletum (Harpers*
Lat. Diet.). They advertised their books by placing lists of them
at their doors. Among the famous booksellers were the Sosii in
Horace's time and Tryphon in the time of Quintilian and Martial.
The prices of books, of course, varied ; some could be bought for one
denarius (20 cents) apiece ; others, according to popularity, size, or
other varying conditions, especially the conscience or lack of this
element on the part of the seller, were sold at five denarii (one dol-
lar), or for a larger sum. - ^
People too poor to buy books were not deprived of the privilege
of reading them, as Rome had many public libraries. From the be-
ginning of the reign of Augustus to the end of that of Hadrian,
twenty-nine libraries for the people were founded. The first
public library was instituted in the time of Augustus, by Asinius
Pollio, consul, man of letters, and patron of literature, who not
only established this library but also collected for the public eye
many famous statues by Praxiteles and other masters. Virgil in his
fourth Eclogue and Horace in many places testify their regard
for this eminent man who did so much for men of genius and for
any workers in literature who sought and deserved his aid. It
was Pollio who instituted the custom of an author reading his pro-
ductions to learned and accomplished men, invited to meet him with
a view to hear and to criticise, but, according to the author's wish,
to do as little of the latter as possible, if the criticisms were not to be
laudatory. This custom at last became a farce and, worse still, a
bore, to everybody. Juvenile, in his famous first Satire, lashes with
unsparing hand the miserable so-called poets who drove him to write
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340 THE AMBBICAN ANTHROPOLOOIST. [Vol. lU.
satire by their public and private recitals. Private individuals col-
lected books, and certain private libraries, as those of Cicero and At-
ticus, who is represented by Cicero as sitting in his cosey library
under the bust of Aristotle, were the most attractive portions of their
palatial homes. Libraries, both public and private, were adorned
with portraits and busts of eminent men and with statues and
statuettes of Minerva and the Muses. A library entirely furnished
was found at Herculanetmi. It was a small room, so small that a
person standing in the middle of it could touch both sides.
As the works of certain Roman authors were used in schools as text-
books, many editions were written. In Juvenal's time the works of
Horace and Virgil and a part of Livy were favorite school books. As
certain authors did not take with the public or with teachers, their
works were not re-written, and thus their productions fell out of use
and out of sight forever.
The Inhabitants of the Bismarck Archipelago. — ^An article
by Count Joachim Pfeil, entitled the '* Land und Volk im Bismarck
Archipel,** recently published in the *' Verhandlungen" of the
Berlin Geographical Society, contains many interesting observations
on this comparatively little known race of cannibals. The name
Bismarck Archipelago is a purely political designation applied to
the group of Melanesian Islands imder the German protectorate, in-
cluding New Pomerania (New Britain), New Mecklenburg (New
Ireland), New Hanover, Bougainville, Choiseul and Isabelle. The
latter islands are really part of the Solomon Islands. The in-
habitants of these islands belong to what is really one race, but show
marked differences on the different islands.
For instance, the New Pomeranian is a big, powerful, muscular
man, with very little of the grace so often characteristic of black
races. His complexion is that of a light n^o, with an admixture
of somewhat more red. His hair is curly, his mouth coarse and
wide, his nose flat, and his coimtenance almost expressionless. The
New Mecklenburger, on the other hand, though of about the same
complexion, is of slighter and more elegant build, his features are
far more pronounced, and his expression is wide awake and crafty.
Among other interesting things the article contains detailed de-
scriptions of several festivals and several interesting tales.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] INDIAN ORIGIN OP MAPLE SUGAR. 341
INDIAN ORIGIN OF MAPLE SUGAR.
BY H. W. HENSHAW.
For a long time it was a popular idea that the Indian was a savage
with all the traits that pertain to savagery, and with few or none of
the instincts that are supposed to inhere in civilized man. This
supposition has gradually given way to a clearer apprehension of the
status of the Indian, as his achievements in one direction and
another have been recognized and studied. Far from being a
wandering savage dependent solely upon his skill as a hunter and
fisher, it has been ascertained that over nearly all the United States
he was practically sedentary, and that east of the Mississippi all the
tribes, and not a few west of that river, depended for a livelihood
more upon the results of agriculture than upon any other one source.
Moreover, the agriculture practiced by the Indian has had tremen-
dous and far-reaching consequences to civilized man. For the most
important product of the Indian's tillage was maize, and while we
may be in some doubt as to the exact region in which maize origi-
nated and probably shall never know the tribe or family which first
cultivated it, there is no ground to question the fact that it was dis-
covered by the Indians in its wild state, its value as a food ascer-
tained by him, and by him it was cultivated for so long a period
that it has become so changed as possibly to defy identification in
its wild state, if, indeed, it still exists in a state of nature. Taken
from the Indian's hand, it has been fostered by a more skillful culture
till it has become one of the most important of food plants and
helps to sustain millions of human beings in every grade of culture
the world over.
Though the most important gift of the Indian to civilization, maize
is not his only one. Pumpkins, beans, one of the most valuable
cotton plants, and tobacco, the latter of which has enslaved man to
the uttermost parts of the earth, are also gifts from the Indian to his
conqueror.
It might not be very easy to point out just what benefits the Indian
has received from his civilized brother in return for the above and
other gifts. Perhaps, if he has received little the fault may not be
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342 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
entirely that of his civilized brother, though there are philanthropists
who appear to think so. However, it is not the purpose of the
present paper to discuss the Indian's success or failure in adjusting
himself to the requirements of advanced civilization, but to present
some evidence tending to show that there is still another important
product for which civilized man is indebted to the Indian.
Allusion is made to Maple Sugar, the origin of the manufacture
of which appears to be in doubt in the minds of some.
During the last census year (1880) more than thirty-six millions
of pounds of maple sugar were produced in the United States, and
more than a million gallons of maple molasses, which together had a
value of perhaps |4,ooo,ooo.
These figures show that the maple sugar industry is a by no means
contemptible one, and, although for the practical purposes of to-day
it matters not whether the art of its manufacture originated with the
Indian or European, its origin is by no means unimportant to the
student desirous of ascertaining Indian arts that he may have a clear
idea of the position attained by the Indian race in its struggle
upwards.
Considering the great familiarity of the Indians with the natural
edible products of America, and the general ignorance of the Euro-
pean on this subject, it is fairly to be inferred that the a priori like-
lihood of the discovery of the properties of the maple sap is all in
favor of the Indian. If maple-sugar-making in the Northern United
States preceded the arrival of the European and if the latter derived
the art from the Indians, it is reasonable to expect to find statements
to this effect in the early French narratives. On the other hand, it
is to be said that if the discovery of the saccharine juice of the
maple and the simple art of boiling it down to sugar were made by
Europeans, is is even more probable that this fact would have been
duly recorded by the early chroniclers. I am not prepared to say
whether the earliest chronicles, say 1 600-1 675, contain information
as to the Indian or European discovery of maple-sugar-making. If
the matter is not referred to, its absence cannot be taken as conclu-
sive either as to aboriginal or European origin. Many customs of
the Indians far more important than this received but the briefest
mention by the early narrators or are not mentioned at all.
Most of the notes presented herewith were collected years ago in
connection with the general subject of Indian food, and, although
it is not pretended that they are exhaustive, they seem sufficient to
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Oct. 1890.] INDIAN ORIGIN OP MAPLE SUGAR. 343
indicate pretty clearly that maple-sugar-making is an aboriginal in-
dustry, and perhaps render reference to earlier authorities unnecessary.
The first reference which I happen to have occurs in Joutel's
Journal, which is to be foimd in Margry D^couvertes, III, 510. A
very free translation of the same appears in French Hist. Coll. La. ,
I, 216, 1846.
A fair translation of the passage is appended, although it throws
no lig^t upon the question of the origin of sugar-making :
" We had not much meat, but Providence furnished us a kind of
manna to add to our Indian com, which manna was of a juice which
the trees eject in this season, and notably the maples, of which there
are many in this province and which are very large. In reference
to this we made large incisions in each tree, to which we applied a
vessel and a knife below the incision to conduct the liquor, which
properly is the sap of the tree, which, being boiled, as it diminishes
becomes sugar. We used this water to boil our Indian corn or
sagamite, which gave it a rather good taste — that is, a little sweet-
ened. It seems that Providence provides for everything, for, as there
are no sugar-canes in these provinces, the trees furnish the sugar ; at
least I have seen some which was excellent. It was more reddish
than ours — that is, what is used in France — ^but nearly as good.'*
The next reference is to be found in Lafitau, Vol. II, 153, 1724,
the period of the author's observation dating back to 1700-5. He
says:
" In the month of March, when the sun has taken a little strength
and as the trees enter into sap, they, the Indians, make with their
hatchets transverse incisions in the trunk of the trees, from which
trickles in abundance a water which they receive in large receptacles
of bark. They afterwards cause this water to boil over the fire, which
consumes all the watery matter, and which thickens the rest into the
consistency of syrup, or even into cakes of sugar, according to the
degree of heat to which they subject it. There is no further mystery
to this. This sugar is a very good pectoral, and is admirable in
remedies ; but, although it is more healthy than that of the canes, it
is not agreeable, nor has it delicacy, and nearly always has a burnt
taste. The French make it better than the Indian women, /nwi
whom they have learned how to make it; but they have not yet been
able to whiten or to refine it."
So far as Lafitau's knowledge goes, his statement of the deriva-
tion of the art from the Indians is direct, if not conclusive. He
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THB AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.
[Vol. III.
says that the French learned it from the Indians. Upon just what
evidence he makes the statement does not appear, but he ^^'as
unusually well acquainted with aboriginal habits, and probably did
not overlook the fact that in the loo years of French contact pre-
ceding his own observation there was plenty of time for the French
to have taught the art to the Indian. His statement of its aboriginal
origin would seem to be entitled, therefore, to considerable weight.
A reproduction is here given of Lafitau's curious illustration of
the Indian method of tapping the maple trees, collecting the sap,
and boiling it down. For the kettles employed in boiling the sap
the Indians are evidently indebted to the French trader ; otherwise
the process indicated appears to have been purely aboriginal.
Indian sugar-making. Reproduced from Lafitau.
Bossu, writing somewhat later, in 1756, is equally explicit as to
the source of the art of sugar-making. He says (Travels through
Louisiana, Vol. I, 188, 1771): "After the first ceremonies were
over, they brought me a calabash full of the vegetable juice of the
maple tree. The Indians extract it in January, making a hole at
the bottom of it, and apply a little tube to that. At the first thaw
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Oct. 1890.] INDIAN ORIGIN OF MAPLB SUGAR. 345
they get a little barrel full of this juice, which they boil to a syrup :
and being boiled over again, it changes into a reddish sugar, look-
ing like Calabrian manna. The apothecaries justly prefer it to the
sugar which is made of sugar canes. The French who are settled
at the Illinois have learnt from the Indians to make this syrupy which
is an exceeding good remedy for colds, and rheumatisms."
Keating (Exp. to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lond., 1825,
Vol. I, p, 114) also offers some satisfactory testimony from the
Indian's side of the question. The quotation, though evidently a
paraphrase of the language used by the Indian, is given in full, as it
contains the Indian's method of sugar-making : " We are informed,
that they profess to have been well acquainted with the art of mak-
ing maple sugar previous to their intercourse with white men. Our
interpreter states that having once expressed his doubts on the
subject in the presence of Jos6 Renard, a Kickapoo chief, the latter
answered him immediately, with a smile, * * * « Wherefore
should we not have known as well as they how to manufacture
sugar ? He has made us all, that we should enjoy life. He has
placed before us all the requisites for the support of existence — fire,
trees, &c. Wherefore then should he have withheld from us the
art of excavating the trees in order to make troughs of them, of
placing the sap in these, of heating the stones and throwing them
into the sap so as to cause it to boil, and by this means reducing it
into sugar? ' " Keating adds : "In this reply of the Kickapoo we
have a brief sketch of the rude process practised by the Indians in
the preparation of the maple sugar. Previously to this they had
learned the art of making and using pottery, but had abandoned it
for the purpose, as Metea told us, of using wooden troughs, and hot
stones ; perhaps because their pottery did not stand fire well. The
evaporation resulting from the action of the hot stones produced a
crystallization of sugar in the trough. Their process was a tedious
and imperfect one, which probably required much time before it
could be improved." * * *
The Kickapoo themselves would thus seem to have believed that
the art was wholly their own, or at least to have had no knowledge
of its derivation from the European.
Moreover, the aboriginal method here indicated seems of itself
to offer excellent evidence that sugar-making was an aboriginal
art. Had it been known to the Indians through European instruc-
tion only, its manufacture would in all probability have been ac-
44
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346 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
companied by the utensils of civilization. The method of boiling
described above, viz., boiling in bark or wooden vessels by means of
heated stones, seems to have been the usual one among the Indians,
at least in the regions remote from civilization. It was, of course, at
once superseded by the use of metal kettles where these could be
obtained, since boiling the sap by means of heated stones must
have been tedious and wasteful, and, as Keating remarks, the
earthen vessels manufactured by the Indians were hardly capable of
standing the necessary great and long-continued heat.
Allusions to the manufacture of sugar by the Indians are not un-
common in early colonial times, but most authors appear to have
taken it for granted that it was an Indian art, and so have passed it
by with a word. Col. Smith, in Drake's Ind. Captivity, 1850, al-
ludes to it several times, and on page 197 gives the following inter-
esting account of its manufacture and use by the Caughnawaga on the
S. E. shore of Lake Erie : "In this month [February] we began to
make sugar. As some of the elm bark will strip at this season, the
squaws, after finding a tree that would do, cut it down, and with a
crooked stick, broad and sharp at the end, took the bark off the tree
and of this bark made vessels in a curious manner that would hold
about two gallons each. They, made above one hundred of these
kind of vessels. In the sugar tree they cut a notch, sloping down,
and at the end of the notch stuck in a tomahawk ; in the place
where they stuck the tomahawk they drove a long chip, in order to
carry the water out from the tree, and under this they set their
vessels to receive it. As sugar trees were plenty and large here,
they seldom or never notched a tree that was not two or three feet
or over. They also made bark vessels for carrying the water that
would hold about four gallons each. They had two brass kettles
that held about fifteen gallons each and other smaller kettles in
which they boiled the water. But as they could not at times boil
away the water as fast as it was collected they made vessels of bark
that would hold about one hundred gallons each for retaining the
water, and, though the ^ugar trees did not run every day, they had
always a sufficient quantity of water to keep them boiling during the
whole sugar season.
** The way we commonly used our sugar while encamped was by
putting it in bear's fat until the fat was almost as sweet as the sugar
itself, and in this we dipped our roasted venison." On p. 215 he
adds one detail in respect to its manufacture which seems to me to
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Oct. 1890.] INDIAN ORIGIN OF MAPLE SUGAR. 347
be peculiarly primitive. **We had no large kettles with us this
year, and they made the frost, in some measure, supply the place of
fire in making sugar. Their large bark vessels for holding the stock
water they made broad, and shallow, and as the weather is very
cold, here it frequently freezes at night in sugar time, and the ice
they break and cast out of the vessels. I asked them if they were
not throwing away the sugar. They said no ; it was water they
were casting away. Sugar did not freeze and there was scarcely any
in that ice.*'
The same method, however, seems to have been well known to
the whites of later times, who employed it with success, and also
the method by evaporation without the use of heat. (See Rush in
Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, 69, 1793.)
In League of the Iroquois, p. 369, Morgan speaks of sugar-making
and states : '* Whether they learned the art from us or we received
it from them is uncertain. One evidence, at least, of its antiquity
among them is to be found in one of their ancient religious festivals,
instituted to the maple and called the Maple Dance. * * The evidence
here adduced in favor of its antiquity seems important, since it is
not to be supposed thkt a festival would have been originated in •
honor of the maple unless the art of extracting its most important
product had long been known. As will be noticed, the Ojibwa
also had a maple-sugar festival, as probably also other tribes who
manufactured it, and it is scarcely to be doubted that such tribes
had also myths accounting for the origin of the maple tree and
explaining the mythic means by which they became possessed of a
knowledge of the properties of its sap and of the manufactxure of the
latter into sugar.
Maple sugar was, in truth, more than a mere luxury to the northern
tribes, and Heny, in his Travels, 1 760-1 776 (p. 70, 1809), states:
*' Though, as I have said, we hunted and fished, yet sugar was our
principal food during the whole .month of April. I have. known
Indians [Ojibwa] to live wholly upon the same and become fat."
Rush states that the Indians " mix a certain quantity of maple
sugar with an equal quantity of corn dried and powdered in its milky
state. This mixture is packed i» little baskets, which are frequently
wetted in travelling without injuring the sugar. A few spoonfuls
of it mixed with half a pint of spring water afford them a pleasant
and strengthening meal.** (Trans. Am. Philos. Soc, 74, 1793.)
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348 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
Maple sugar was, in fact, part of the annual supply of food, and
the maple groves were regularly resorted to for its manufacture.
Though the above evidence, so far as it goes, seems to decidedly
favor an aboriginal origin for maple-sugar-making, it appears to me
of less consequence than certain linguistic testimony which may be
cited. But first a word as to the range of the sugar-producing
maples.
The sugar maple {Acer saccharinum\ though flourishing best in
a northern climate, yet possesses an extensive range in the United
States, extending south along the Alleghanies to northern Alabama
and west Florida, west to Minnesota, Nebraska, eastern Kansas,
where rare, and eastern Texas. (For range of this and other species
see Sargent, Vol. I, Tenth Census, 1884.) There are two other
trees from which sugar is occasionally made, viz., the Silver Maple
{A. dasycarpum) and the Box Elder (JN'egundo aceroides), I doubt
not that the latter trees were tapped by the Indians for sugar, but I
am unable to say positively that such was the case. If the range of
the two latter species be taken into consideration, it is evident that
one or more of the sugar-producing trees must have been known to
. all the tribes north of the Gulf States and as far west as the plains,
and even in the Rocky Mountains. The manufacture of maple
sugar, however, appears to have been chiefly limited to the northern
tribes, especially to those of New England and the region of the
Great Lakes, though the Indian languages quoted below show that
the knowledge of the sap-producing properties of the tree, if not
the knowledge of maple sugar, was by no means conflned to these
sections.
Certain it is that a knowledge of the sap-producing properties of
the tree could not long have preceded the knowledge of maple sugar.
The sap would naturally first be used as a beverage ; but the discov-
ery of the art of boiling it down could not have long been delayed,
though the freezing process may have been first in order of time.
When European novelties were introduced among the Indians
there were two methods of naming them. Frequently, as in the
case of sugar below cited, they did their best to adopt the foreign
name. This was particularly true in California, where Spanish names
for almost every European introduction were incorporated into the
native tongues. Tonty (1688) tells us that the Cadodaquis on Red
River of Louisiana called the horse "cavali,'' Spanish caballo.
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Oct. 1890.] INDIAN ORIGIN OP MAPLE SUGAR. 349
Many tribes, however, applied names of their own coining, de-
riving them from the names of objects most nearly resembling the
object to be named. A familiar example is offered by the Dakota
name for horse. As the only animal domesticated among the Indians
was the dog, the San tee and Yankton name for which is Shunka,
the horse was called by the Santee, Shunk-tanka, big dog ; Yankton,
Shunka wakan, mysterious dog.
Again, the Cheroki, as Mr. Mooney informs me, before they met
the European, extracted their only saccharine from the pod of the
honey locust, using the powdered pods to sweeten parched corn and
to make a sweet drink. Their name for Honey Locust was Kuls^tsi,
which name they applied also to the sugar of civilization.
Bearing the above facts in mind, it is a fair inference that if in-
vestigation shows that the Indian name for European sugar is the
same as, or a derivative from, the name for maple sugar, and espe-
cially if the name of the latter be derived from the name of maple
tree, we can hardly expect to find better evidence of the fact that
maple sugar was a truly aboriginal production.
Frequent allusion is made in Tanner's Captivity to the manufacture
of sugar by the Ojibwa, and on p. 294 (James Ed., N. Y., 1830)
the Ojibwa term for Sugar Maple is given as Nin-au-tik, which is
rendered **our own tree.*' The compound may possibly be from
mi tig, tree, and nin, our. (See Baraga Otchipwe Grammar.) It is,
however, probable that Tanner's etymology is faulty and that the
true derivation is given below. The River Maple is called She-
she-gum-maw-wis, which is interpreted **sap flows fast.*' This ety-
mology is also significant, since it clearly implies the ancient deri-
vation of the tree's name from its sap. It is probable that the
Indian's knowledge of the flow of the sap was had by the practice
of tapping the trees for the purpose of sugar-making.
The Menomini name for the sugar moon, probably March, is given
(p. 321) as Sho-bo-maw-kun ka-zho. It is very unlikely that the
Indians would give a name to the sugar month unless sugar-making
was of respectable antiquity among them, and was, moreover, abo-
riginal.
A letter from Mr. Beaulieu at White Earth, Minnesota, in response
to a letter of inquiry, contains interesting and valuable information
in regard to sugar-making among the Ojibwa, and I therefore take
the liberty of quoting parts of it. He gives the Ojibwa word for
maple sugar as Zeence-zee-bah-quod, pronounced sen-se-pah-qwot.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
350 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOrX)GIST. [Vol. III.
(Compare this with the Cree term below.) Derivation 2^ence-zee,
squeezed or drawn from ; bah-quod, stick or wood. Hence the
meaning, drawn from wood, or squeezed from wood or stick, which
applies to the sap and the manner in which it is drawn from the tree
by tapping in the spring.
Weesh-ko-bun is another term often used by the Indians, and more
properly applies to the saccharine quality of sugar than the former
word, as it refers to something palatable and grateful to the sense of
taste.
Enin-ah-tig weesh-ko-bun is also employed. Enin, man ; ah-tig>
wood or stick ; weesh-ko-tun, sugar. Hence, man stick sugar. This
etymology contains a metaphorical reference to the manner the sap
flows from the tree, as curious as it is suggestive. Doctor Hoffinan
informs me that this name particularly applies to sugar derived from
the Acer nigrum^ now considered as a variety oi A, sac char inum, as
the Indians say that the flow of sap from this tree is more plentiful
than from any other.
Mr. Beaulieu states that the Ojibwa have a myth or deity con-
nected with sugar. He also gives Zeence-zee-bah-quod-o-kay-ge-
zis as the name for the sugar moon — March and April — adding that
these are sometimes called Pay-bok-quay-dah-ge-mid, breaking snow
shoe month.
He presents the following interesting facts with reference to the
Ojibwa maple-sugar festival : "It has been and is yet with many
the custom to join in a feast or sugar festival in the spring — that is,
when the first sugar is made. The sugar-makers are invited to a
lodge prepared for the occasion by the medicine man, who, when
all have assembled, takes a small portion of the old sugar of the
season before and the new sugar, mingles it together, at the same
time muttering a prayer of thanks, and then hands a little to all who
are present. Then he proceeds to thank, in a loud voice, the Great
Spirit or Giver-of-Life for his good-will and invokes his aid and
kindness to grant the a-nish-in-ah-bag (inferior braves or beings) a
good and bountiful sugar harvest, etc. After this all are invited to
partake of the feast prepared for the occasion, consisting, generally,
of wild rice and game, etc., etc."
Lacombe, in Dictionnaire de la Langues des Cris (p. 254), gives
the Cree name for sugar as Sisibaskwat, which is clearly a derivation
from Sisibaskwatattik, maple tree (p. 135). It is important to
notice that the Cree distinguished their own sugar from the white
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Oct. 1890.] INDIAN ORIGIN OF MAPLE SUGAR. 351
sugar of the European, calling the latter Sokaw (p. 254), which is
evidently an attempt to pronounce the French or English word.
Mr. Hewitt informs me that the Tuscarora word for sugar is
U-rS"'-na'-krr, which signifies tree sap. It would thus seem that
even in this tribe, which lived comparatively far south, the knowl-
edge of the product of the maple tree must have antedated the
knowledge of European sugar, though the North Carolina home of
the tribe could scarcely have furnished the means for extracting the
•sap, at least, in any quantity.
Making due allowance for consonantal changes, the Oneida seem
to have the same word for sugar-^O-lofi-da'-ke-li*.
Mr. Dorsey gives the Omaha and Ponka word for sugar as Ja"-ni,
Ja" being wood or tree ; ni, water or sap ; thus, tree sap. The word
for sugar maple is Ja"-nihi, hi being tree or stock. The Kansa word
also is Ja"-ni ; the Osage, Ca"-ni ; the Iowa, Na"ni, all apparently
having the same etymology.
The Winnebago word differs somewhat, being Ta'niju'-rd, niju
being water or rain. Hence the etymology would seem to be wood
water or rain, the word apparently suggesting the idea of the rapid
flow of the sap.
It would not be difficult, I believe, to bring forward much more
linguistic evidence tending to show that the Indian names for sugar
and maple sugar were usually the same, and that the terms for • the
latter were aboriginal, date from a remote antiquity, and were con-
nected with the trees which produce their only saccharine. The
evidence here advanced, however, seems to be sufficient. At all
events, it appears to offer at least presumptive proof that the Indians
were in nowise indebted to the European for their knowledge of
maple sugar. Like the cultivation of the maize, the tobacco, the
pumpkin, bean, and cotton alluded to above, the art of maple-sugar-
making, simple as it was, was aboriginal, resulting from their own
observation and inventive powers.
JivAya StarinA (Surviving Antiquity), — In September-October
of the current year the Ethnographic Section of the Imperial Rus-
sian Geographical Society will publish the first number of a quarterly
with the above title. It will be devoted to the whole Slav race,
wherever resident, and to the various ethnic stocks within the Rus-
sian Empire.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
352 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. III.
A Fetish-town in Togoland. — '* The great fetish-town, Dipongo,
consists of nine huts, grouped in a circle round an india-rubber tree,
and of these seven are occupied only by the wives and children of
Jaopura. The fetish-hut shelters Jaopura's insignia as king and
highest fetish priest of Adeli. Several gigantic parasols of native
workmanship, covered with bright-colored European calico; a great,
wonderfully carved Ashantee stool (the natives say Assanti) with
bells, which he sends on ahead to every great assembly as a sign
that he is going to appear in person ; a remarkably wrought leather
girdle, with iron bells sewed on in front, which none but Jaopura
may wear; a barrel -shaped drum covered with leopard skin, which,
unlike the other drums, is not beaten but stroked with the drum-
stick, which produces a peculiarly rattling noise, and various other
fetish and royal insignia dangle, covered with dust, from the walls
and roof or stand sprinkled with blood upon the floor.
"Between his two huts a broad path, the beginning of which is
marked by two sacred tree trunks lying obliquely across it, leads to
the great fetish in the wood, which I was not allowed to approach.
Here are held the great fetish festivals, while the ordinary ceremo-
nies — in which the killing of chickens, from the nature of whose
death struggles a favorable or unfavorable answer is given to the
questioner, plays the chief part — ^are carried on in the village itself."
(Lieutenant Kling, commander of the Bismarckburg station, Togo-
land, in ** Mittheilungen . . . aus den Deutschen Schutzgeb-
ieten, v. 3, No. 3, Berlin, 1890.)
Secret Societies among the Coast Indians of British Co-
lumbia AND Alaska. — ^The well-known Norwegian traveller, J. A.
Jacobsen, is beginning to publish the ethnographical results of his
travels in northwestern America, in ** Das Ausland.'* The first
article appeared in Nos. 14 and 15 of the current volume (pp. 267-
9, 290-3), and treats of secret societies on the northwest coast
('* Geheimbunde der Kustenbewohner Nordamerikas.*')
Captain Jacobsen describes four of these secret orders, namely :
1. The Hametzor ''biters," with three classes, the biters of men,
the corpse devourers, and the dog biters.
2. The Pak-halla or Pak-kwalla, "medicine men.*'
3. The Hatz-kwalla or self-torturers, peculiar to the Kwakiutl.
4. The Nuttle-mattla, who perform all sorts of buffoonery under
the possession of the spirits.
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Oct. 1890.]
GAMES OF "ha" AND "PROPS.
353
ON THE NI8HINAM GAME OF « HA "
GAME OF '< PROPS.
AND THE BOSTON
BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS.
Stephen Powers,* in his description of the games of the Nishinam
Indians of interior California, says: **The ha is a game